


The Siren

by Zaphrina



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Crossover, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-01
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:01:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 45
Words: 59,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22964311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zaphrina/pseuds/Zaphrina
Summary: Percy Jackson and Peter Parker are both superheroes who live in Midtown, but they have literally nothing else in common and somehow that works out.
Relationships: Percy Jackson/Peter Parker
Comments: 149
Kudos: 702





	1. Coulson

The fact that anyone thought Phillip J Coulson  _ didn't  _ know about an entire training camp for enhanced individuals was absolutely absurd. He knew it was there. What he  _ didn't  _ know was how to get in, and whether it was full of mutants or inhumans. Or both?

He wrote down "both?" on his chalkboard. So basically, he had nothing. But he knew it was there! He knew where it was, and he knew someone was using magic to conceal it. He wanted to recruit them. An entire group of fully trained adult enhanced individuals? That would certainly help his mish mosh team of scientists and spies. 

The tricky thing was, his team had been investigating for months and had gotten nowhere, only seeing a few kids disappear within a magical barrier. He knew of a group of people who had the means and ability to help, but they would not be happy to see him.

That was how he found himself and Agent May walking through the front doors of the beautifully renovated Stark Tower. Alarms immediately went off and Phil rolled his eyes. Stark probably had face recognition cameras pointed at every entrance to this fortress, and this was likely quite alarming. 

"We come in peace," Phil put on his non-threatening, placating smile and raised his hands above his head, nodding at May to join suit. Surrounded by security, Phil and May waited patiently as a fully-suited Iron Man flew over to them and walked through the security bubble.

When his faceplate rose up, an unimpressed eyebrow rose as well and Stark put his hands on his hips.

"Agent Agent, lovely to see you among the living," came his snarky reply. Then he pressed a button on his neck and spoke into his communication device. "Not an Avengers-level emergency, but assembly is still requested."

"En-route," came the fuzzy reply. Oh boy, Phil recognized that voice. He was in  _ trouble _ . 

Less than a minute later, the main elevator doors opened only to reveal (fully suited up) Captain America, the Winter Soldier, and the Falcon. Yup. He was done for. 

"Phil," May whispered next to him. "I think we should call for backup." 

"No," his reply was at full volume, leading her to roll her eyes. "They're not a threat to us. We come asking for help," he directed that at Stark as the three veterans reached them. Phil didn't  _ want _ to overanalyze their posture and stance, but his mind couldn't help it. The Falcon (Sam Wilson; pararescue; threat level low) looked rather confused but leaned slightly to his right, likely ready to follow whatever the Captain did. The Winter Soldier (James Buchanan Barnes; rehabilitated Hydra agent; threat level unknown) looked gruff but calmer than the Falcon, likely also waiting on his leader to proceed. Captain America (Steve Rogers; lead Avenger; threat level ... Usually low... Possibly high considering the circumstances) looked unwaveringly blank and at ease. Looked like he was working on his poker face.

"Agent Coulson, how... Interesting to see you," Captain Rogers spoke slowly and deliberately. Likely containing his anger or confusion. Phil was working on what the underlying emotions were.

The Winter Soldier choked. "Coulson? You mean dead Coulson?" His eyebrows flew up into his hair. "Everybody's coming back from the dead these days, huh," he shook his head and rolled his eyes.

"An unpleasant experience, I assure you," Phil replied.

"You're about to have another unpleasant experience if you don't explain yourself," Starks voice came from his right and Phil flicked his eyes over, though he kept his attention on the three veterans to his left. Stark was volatile but the Captain likely had more skin in the game and was more likely to act out. 

"My team needs your help."

"And what makes you think we would help you? How long have you been alive? Where have you been? What team?" Stark questioned him.

"I'm sure we can discuss this in a more secure location," Phil replied. It was a sensitive topic after all.

"And why are you coming here for help after all this time?" The Captain spoke quietly, but his posture was strained, he was holding himself back.

"I assure you I can explain more when there aren't ears and eyes all around," Phil lowered his arms, May following suit, and raised his eyebrows at the men. The ball was in their court.

"Debrief room. Now."

_____________________________

"So you want our help finding a secret enhanced hideout. And you didn't think before now this was an Avengers level issue? What if they're a threat? You're describing a fully trained community of enhanced adults," the Captain was raising his voice, losing patience.

"Exactly that reason," May spoke up. "You would take them on as a threat without considering the other options."

"We don't know that they're not a threat, and we should treat them as a danger until we know more," the Captain responded, standing up. "If you want our help finding this secret society, you're going to have to deal with protocol. We find it, we take them in, and we deal with them once they're contained."

"And if there are too many?" May asked. "If they're stronger than you? We need to negotiate, talk to them, or we risk putting others in danger."

"I have to agree on this one, Cap, if their forces are bigger than our current avenging team, which is quite lacking at the moment," Stark gestured at himself, the three veterans that composed his welcome party, and the unpleasantly silent Black Widow and Hawkeye, "then we are going to be fighting a losing battle." 

"I don't like it. We haven't even found them." Captain Rogers sat back down, apparently placated for the moment.

"We do know where they are though. There's a magical barrier near the Long Island Sound. A large stretch of land completely impenetrable by my team. We've seen some kids enter and exit through a doorway that seemingly leads to nowhere, but they disappear completely when they enter. They also clearly have inherited enhanced abilities from their parents and likely are beginning training as well," Phil replied. 

"So how do we get in? Kidnap any kid who walks in or out?" Agent Romanoff asked, breaking her silence and crossing her arms over her chest. "Didn't know you were into that, Agent."

"I'm aware your team has a magically capable individual who can assist us," Phil was finally getting to the asking for help part.

"We're not getting Wanda to break into an encampment of possibly armed, definitely enhanced individuals," Rogers was standing again, indignant. 

"You didn't even ask," came an accented voice from the door. "And you didn't invite me to your meeting. Rude," the Scarlet Witch walked into the room and stood behind Agent Barton. "If there are enhanced individuals, we should find them and try to get along. That way next time an Ultron happens we have more than just us to help." She shrugged. "Our team is pretty small with Thor off galavanting the galaxy and Doctor Banner sitting on the bench. They could help us," it seemed like Phil had someone on his side. A quite powerful someone. And it looked like she was swaying the Captain's mind. He didn't look happy, but he didn't look nearly as indignant as before.

"Okay, we need to make a plan if we're going to try and non-violently infiltrate a magical fortress," if Phil wasn't mistaken, he would swear the good Captain rolled his eyes. 


	2. Annabeth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the only fic I have ever posted that isn't about Darcy Lewis (except a 2010 masterpiece about Ouran High School Host Club) so please be patient

"This is ridiculous," Sam Wilson muttered, staring up at the rickety wooden archway at the top of a hill. 

"Is that Greek?" That came from Bucky Barnes. 

"Ancient. Not modern," Agent Romanoff replied.

"I can't believe I agreed to this" Captain Rogers shook his head. 

Wanda tried to put her hand through the doorway but was stopped by an invisible barrier. Phil watched as she closed her eyes and her magic started manifesting as a red energy that spread across the doorway. Moments later she was gently pushed out of the way as a man in a wheelchair emerged through the barrier, eyeing them all up wearily.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Sir, we've been alerted to a community of enhanced individuals in the area and have come to make ourselves known and possibly negotiate a peace," Captain Rogers, ever so polite, shook hands with the man and stood back with his team.

"While I thank you for your service and for you coming to introduce yourselves, we're not in good enough shape to be accepting guests," the man turned around and began wheeling himself back towards the door. "Please do not attempt to use magic on our border again. You wouldn't like the outcome." And with that, he disappeared into the archway.

"Did he just threaten us?" Stark was fully suited up, but Coulson could imagine him raising his eyebrows.

"We tried talking, it didn't work. What now?" Captain Rogers questioned, looking irritatedly at Phil.

"We don't want to be on bad terms with them, but-" they were interrupted as an impossibly  _ irate _ teenage girl came barreling through the barrier, mumbling to herself and barely noticing them. When she walked right through their group, Agent May grabbed her by the arm, unbothered, and held her there.

"Found one. What now?"

"Excuse me?" The girl glowered up at May, stormy gray eyes flickering with rage. "Who do you think you are?" 

"We would like to speak to one of the adults," Agent Romanoff was taking the friendly approach, interesting.

"But not the one in the wheelchair, he's mean," Agent Barton added.

"I don't have time to find you a tour guide. I'm on a  _ quest _ ." The girl tried to rip her arm out May's grip with no results. “Let go of me or I'll make you," she stood dangerously still and Phil was, for a moment, surprised. He looked closely at her. Covered in scars, weary but enraged eyes. Blonde hair, white streak. Muscular, likely trained. Nothing on her body but a baseball cap in her hand. Threat level... Unknown. While he was analyzing her she punched May in the throat and took off, but as soon as they went to chase her she put on the baseball hat and disappeared.

"Can we track her footsteps?" Barton asked at the same time Barnes asked "What the  _ fuck _ was that?"

"I hate kids," grumbled Barton. 

"She didn't display any enhancements. But she was definitely trained," May grunted out, looking rather... Irritated. 

"I'm beginning to think we've come across more than just a group of enhanced people," Wilson spoke up. "I recognize that look on her face. She's seen things. I think we need to get more information."

"JARVIS, run face recognition." Stark waited on his AI to reply. The british voice was quick to reply.

"Annabeth Chase, runaway. Current location: unknown. Previous location: San Francisco. Age: 16."

"Annabeth Chase. That's a lead."

__________

It was not, in fact, a lead. She returned a week and a half later (being untraceable until then, much to Stark's irritation) worse for wear and grumbling quietly as she re-entered the compound. They watched the screen for another few minutes but nothing happened. Tony had installed cameras in the trees to better investigate.

"I still don't agree with this, but now we have a fully trained teenager with a magic item on our hands. It's curious, and probably dangerous." Captain Rogers ran his hand over his face. "She was covered in scars. I saw her, too. I know that look. I swear to God," he stood from his chair and dramatically leaned against a wall. "If we just came across some weird cult full of child soldiers," he trailed off and looked back at them with what could only be described as barely contained rage. "I am going to lose my shit."

__________________

The trail went cold and they didn't see another glimpse of Annabeth Chase. Phil and May returned to their base to keep planning. Things for the Avengers were slow, but Thor came to visit for a while. 

Things were slow, that is, until one of his cameras alerted Tony to someone leaving the compound. Face recognition told him that this was one Perseus Jackson, troubled teenager with a history of public displays of violence, who had been missing for several months until Tony saw him. 

"JARVIS, call for an assembly."


	3. Sally

"I caught him on a traffic cam in Midtown," Tony said. What he didn't voice was his slight concern for his little spider friend who also happened to live in Midtown. Two enhanced teenagers in that proximity? They're bound to meet. Good thing this Perseus Jackson wasn't getting into Peter's school. He had ADHD and dyslexia, and had moved from school to school ever since he was a child. "And then approaching an apartment building. I'm betting he lives outside the community. He's our best bet."

"What are we waiting for?" Steve asked.

"Do you really think sending the Avengers to some kids house in Midtown is the best idea?" Bruce inquired. "I think this whole thing is a terrible idea but this has to be the worst part."

"Brucey, the kid's dangerous, he got in a gun fight when he was twelve. I think we need at least two of us to go. But we're all conspicuous... Legolas. You'll go. And Barnes. With the haircut you look like a normal person."

The two looked at each other and rolled their eyes in unison, agreeing but not excited about it.

"I'm telling you. Cult. Child soldiers. I don't like it," Steve grumbled, crossing his arms.

"I highly doubt the kid's been in a war," Tony rolled his eyes.

"Like you would know what a war-torn face looks like?" Steve growled, thinking of all that had happened to his friends.

"I have to look at you every single day. I think I'd know."

"Look, guys. First thing, we've only seen him on shitty camera footage so we can't tell what his facial expressions are doing. Second, now is not the time to argue," Sam tries to placate them. "Should we call Coulson?"

Several voices called "NO" at the same time and the Falcon backed up a bit. "Alright, so that's a consensus. No SHIELD. When do we start?"  
___________

Bucky and Clint caught up to him pretty quickly. He was greeted at the door by a shocked and surprised looking woman who didn't even let him speak before the threw herself into his arms and started crying.

"Percy! You've been gone for months!" She sobbed. Bucky turned to Clint.

"His mom?" His partner nodded. They did know the kid went missing, this was likely his home. When they finally did go inside, the two men made their way to the door. It would be a surprise, seeing them, and hopefully they wouldn't alarm the woman or frighten the boy.

The door opened soon after they knocked and a brightly smiling, slightly teary eyed, teenage boy opened the door. Perseus. He was so... Bright and happy. Didn't seem like the kind of kid who gets into a gunfight at 12 and blows up the Gateway Arch.

"Hi! Can I help you?" Bucky was certainly shocked and Clint was thrown off guard as well, but they had a mission.

"We're looking for a... Perseus Jackson?" Bucky asked, scratching his head.

"People usually call me Percy, what are you looking for?" He tilted his head and smiled at them like he didn't have a care in the world. And honestly, Bucky thought, if he was missing for months on end and got to see his mom for the first time, he would be pretty happy, too.

"Well it's gonna sound crazy," Clint started, and paused as the woman from earlier came to stand behind her son with an equally charming smile. "It's gonna sound crazy but we work with Tony Stark and he'd like to meet with you."

"Yes, we know who you are but why are you here?" And that was what Clint was not excited for. The voice of a mother who had just gotten her son back, faced with two Avengers who wanted to take him into Stark's fortress to "talk to him." It was especially terrifying with the beautiful smile she still wore. "Would you like to come in for cookies? We can discuss this more comfortably inside," she opened the door further, Percy shrugged and walked inside, prompting the two men to follow, albeit hesitantly.

"Welcome, I'm Sally and you already seem to know Percy. I have chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin. Any preference?"

"Oatmeal please," Bucky smiled at the woman and Clint took the same.

"Now, what brings you here?" Sally sat on the couch and neatly crossed her legs as Percy flung himself into an armchair and raised his eyebrows at them. The kid was making Bucky nervous, his body was telling him to prepare for a fight but he saw no reason this kid would want to, or be able to, hurt him. Percy was completely relaxed and showed no outward signs of being a threat.

"We've been trying to get into contact with someone of authority at the secret enhanced compound. Your son is one of the only people we've seen leave it and would like to speak with him about arranging a conversation with someone in charge," at that Clint looked over at Percy.

"No. We don't want any business with world-saving heroes and dangerous villains," he stated firmly, crossing his arms, but still not showing any kind of threatening behavior. "And I'd like to formally remind you that just because we have a high tech barrier doesn't mean we're a group of rogue mutants. We just don't want anybody in our business."

It was in that moment that the shadows in the corner of the room quivered and another teenage boy, this one younger and thinner, walked out of the shadows and threw himself into the room.

"Percy your dad's at camp!" He exclaimed, out of breath.

"Where did you even come from?" Clint yelped through the cookie in his mouth.

"Nico now is not the time... Wait. My dad is WHERE?" At that, Percy stood up, and Bucky's anxiety notched up a little more. The kid was built. He was tall, taller than Clint and maybe as tall as himself. He was well trained, made of muscle. And his posture... He looked like a man ready to fight as he reached for a weapon that wasn't there. Bucky stood up and put his hands out placatingly.

"Maybe we should all calm down a little bit, and-"

"Holy shit it's the Winter Soldier! And Hawkeye! Man this is so cool!" The younger boy excitedly shook each of their hands and then paused. "Why are you here?" He narrowed his eyes. "Because we don't want any Avenging. We're done fighting wars."

"Nico stop talking!" Percy shouted, throwing his hands out and making everyone pause.

Clint whistled.

"Steve's gonna lose his shit."

"Steve is gonna lose his shit," Bucky agreed.

"What? I didn't say anything about the-" Percy reached to cover Nico's mouth and shushed him.

"Oh my gods Nico. Stop." Percy looked frantic and slowly maneuvered Nico to sit on the couch next to his mother.

"Before we continue," Percy gestured at the two Avengers in the room before looking back to Nico. "Why is my dad at camp?"

"Oh! He heard you were back! He's.. less than thrilled about you-know-who taking your memories and leaving you alone in the streets only to be taken into... You-know-where... And he's kinda throwing a tantrum. He flooded the strawberry fields."

"I just got back come on," Percy stood and turned to his mother. "I gotta go, I'll be back, okay?" He hugged her and grabbed Nico by his shirt and pulled him up.

"You two better leave my mom alone while I'm gone, okay? If I hear any different I'm coming straight to Stark Tower to have a chat," his pleasant face dropped for a millisecond and Bucky tensed all over. Percy Jackson; enhancements unknown; ADHD; dyslexia; possible cult member; possible ... Soldier?; Threat level... Unknown.

With that, Nico pulled Percy into a shadow and they disappeared.

"Um... Are we going to talk about that?" Clint was standing in the middle of the room pointing at the shadows.

"I hate to be rude but I have to go to work, would you like some cookies to go?" Sally smiles at them again, packed some cookies in a tupperware, and sent them on their way.

"Okay," Bucky said on their drive back. "Definitely enhanced people. That Percy is dangerous." He shook his head and looked over at Clint who just looked so exasperated.

"Man why do these kids have to be so dangerous. Just be kids! Normal kids! What is this bullshit?" He threw his hands up as much as he could in the car and grumbled the entire way back to the tower.


	4. Peter

"What's the sitch Spy Kids?" Tony asked from the front of the assembly room where he stood next to Steve.

"The kid's super nice. Very wholesome. Friendly and charming," Clint started.

"He's also definitely very dangerous," Bucky finished. They'd practiced how they'd tell the team.

"What do you mean?" That was Steve, leaning forwards onto the table.

"I've got a feeling. But based on the way he holds himself... The way he reached for his weapon..." He glanced at Clint who looked just as grim as Bucky felt.

"He's hiding something. And his enhanced friend can walk through shadows so he escaped and we were left with the kid's poor mom," Clint finished again. "Oh, we have cookies, too" he pulled out the container and opened it for everyone. "Percy's mom gave us cookies."

"And apparently his father is a force to be reckoned with. We assume he's the enhanced one, and he was at the... Camp. That's what they called it. The camp," Bucky shrugged. "He said if we bothered his mom again he'd come here, it was definitely a threat but he's pretty sneaky and it might be the only way to get him here."

"We can't just bother his mom," Steve replied.

"Uh yeah, we can. This kid could be a national security threat. We have a duty to our fellow New Yorkers and Americans to learn more about a kid that the goddamn WINTER SOLDIER is afraid of," Stark argued, pointing at Bucky, who (much to Steve's astonishment) shrugged and nodded.

"Oh!" Clint exclaimed. "The enhanced kid, Nico. He mentioned a war. And they he and Percy wanted no part in fighting anymore. So. Possibly a cult." He munched on another cookie.

Steve's eyes rolled so hard he might have gotten them stuck and he gripped the table so hard Bucky could hear it crack. "I swear," he grumbled. "You'd think for once I'd get what I want. But no, now we have child soldiers on our hands."

"Do you know how many kinds of screwed up that kid must be?" Sam asked the lot of them. "We really should not be bothering them except to offer them professional therapy. Jesus," he shook his head and crossed his arms. "But are any of you going to listen to me?"

"No," was Stark's answer. "I think I'm having a hankering for freshly baked cookies."  
___________________

It took a week before Percy heard about Tony Stark stopping by his apartment, and it was Tony's own fault for not anticipating his arrival. Because it coincided with a Saturday that Peter was in the labs with him. And that was no good.

The kid strolled into the labs with Pepper on his heels.

"Mister Stark, it's really great to finally meet you," he smiled, and it was genuine. Tony was a hero to a lot of kids. "And who are you?" He turned to Peter.

"Peter Parker, I'm an intern," he smiled and enthusiastically shook Percy's outstretched hand.

"That's super cool! I wish I was smart enough to intern at Stark Industries," Percy paused after Pepper cleared her throat. He frowned and Tony didn't like it, the kid looked so innocent for a moment, like he'd been through so much. "I forgot."

"Anthony," Pepper's voice was icy, and if Tony still believed in God he would have been praying for all his sins before Pepper sent him straight back to his maker.

"Did you threaten this boy's mother?"

"Mister Stark?" Peter turned to his mentor, confused. Tony stood, raising his arms in a placating manner.

"I didn't threaten her... Per se..." He scratched the back of his head. "I just wanted to get your attention. I wanted to meet you."

"So you went to his apartment while he wasn't home, and threatened his mother? You researched him, don't deny it," she pointed at Tony to shush him. "I know you did. You know what that poor woman has been through, and you threatened her?"

"Look, Pep..."

"Anthony. In my office." She turned and smiled sweetly at Peter "I'm sure you and Mister Jackson can entertain yourselves for a few minutes. This won't take long," and out she went, Tony on her heels.

Percy picked at his fingernails and looked over at Peter. "So what do you do as an intern? I've never had a job," Percy smiled gently at him, he knew this must be a lot for the kid.

"Oh! I help Mister Stark with engineering projects and sometimes I do my own thing, and he just funds it. It's so great!" He kept on gushing and Percy listened intently, trying to stay focused. "What do you do?"

"Oh, I volunteer at a camp nearby for kids with absentee parents," Peter's mouth turned into an "O" shape as he nodded.

"That's so cool! And very generous! Are you from around here?"

"Midtown," Percy nodded at himself.

"Oh! I go to Midtown High!" Percy's eyebrows shot up into his hair.

"You're a genius. That's why you intern here. Yup." Percy nodded. "Maybe I’ll get smarter just by being in the room with you," he chuckled and it made Peter smile.

"I'm sure you have talents! I'm just lucky I got the smart gene. What's something you're naturally good at?" Peter asked and damnit Percy let his guard down around the cute guy in the room and the stupid words slipped out of his mouth.

"Yeah, I'm actually really good at sword fighting."

"No. Way. That is amazing." Percy internally scolded himself. He heard the door open behind him as Miss Potts and Mister Stark presumably returned. "I can't believe you know how to use a sword! You'll have to spar with Mister Steve! He has a dope shield!" God he was so cute when he was gushing about things. But then Percy remembered the two adults had walked in. Now they knew he knew how to use a sword. Great. More information they didn't need to have.

"Alright, Peter, were going to get back to work in a few. Percy... I hope we can set up a meeting to discuss your... Camp."

"Oh yeah! He said he volunteers at a camp for kids with absentee parents, isn't that so nice Mister Stark?"

"So nice," the older man sighed.

"Well, when are you and your friends free? I'd like to bring some other camp counselors," Percy smiled.

"You ... Would? Like adults?" Tony asked uncertainly.

"Oh no. The only adults are Mr. D and Chiron and I do not think they would want to meet you."

There was a loud crashing noise as Clint threw himself down from the air vent.

"You're telling me there's a camp full of fully trained enhanced soldiers. And there are only two adults?"

"Enhanced?" Peter tilted his head to look at Percy, who shrugged apologetically.

"It's supposed to be a secret. First you come to my house, and then he threatens my mom," he pointed at Tony, "and now you out me as an enhanced person to someone I just met? Rude."

"So what are you? Mutant? Inhuman? Genetically modified?" Came a booming voice from behind him.

"What do you mean genetically- damn," he eyed the man up. He was a little bit taller than Percy and looked stronger. And he was just a hot damn gorgeous slice of American pie. "Oh right, you're genetically modified. So it makes sense that you'd ask that." He nodded to himself. "So, if we're calling in the whole team now does that mean we're having our meeting? Because I'd like to phone a friend."

"Well why not? Everyone's here. Even Thor."

"Thor?" Percy blanched.

"Okay, so the Winter Soldier doesn't make you bat an eyelash, but one mention of a God who isn't even in the room, and you look like a ghost. Oh there he is!" Another man crowded into the room. Percy was beginning to feel claustrophobic and he pulled at the white streak in his hair nervously.

"Brothers in arms, why are we gathered?" The jolly God turned, addressing everyone in the room. "Man of Iron, Clinton, Captain Rogers, Spider child, and- who are you?"

Spider-child? Percy thought. But the only other person in the room was...

"So you're genetically modified too then? Percy questioned Peter. The boy looked nervous, like he was trying to make himself look smaller.

"It's a long story."

"You look like my cousin!" Thor boomed, grabbing Percy by the shoulders and jolting him out of his thoughts.

"Your cousin?" This would not be good. Percy wasn't sure how the Greeks and Romans handled the Asgardians... Hopefully he wouldn't say anything.

"Yes you look... Just like him," he frowned, then turned to Tony. "Where did you find this demigod? I have urgent business with his father." Percy threw himself out of Thor's (massive) arms and started backing out of the room.

"Look at the time it looks like dinnertime, wouldn't want to keep my mom waiting," he laughed nervously and kept backing up... Straight into a wall of muscle. Right. Captain America hadn't moved from the door. Hands settled on his shoulders and turned him around.

"So you are enhanced." His dark frown was anything but American apple pie goodness and Percy felt afraid for a moment. And then he remembered how Smelly Gabe used to grab him, and he twisted out of the Captain's grip.

"Do not put your hands on me," he gasped and stood wearily in the center of the group of heroes. "I don't want any trouble."

"Why do you look like you're ready for a fight?" Captain America asked him.

"I'm surrounded by people who have been manhandling me, who came into my home and threatened my mother, who put up cameras outside my camp, and who are generally threats. What did you expect when you cornered me?" Percy reached into his pocket. He knew Riptide wouldn't hurt mortals but it gave him comfort knowing it was there.

"That's valid," Clint shrugged and put his hands above his head. "Not a threat," he went to sit down on a rolling chair and tried to look non-threatening.

"Please, let me leave," Percy pleaded. But that dumb part in his seaweed brain couldn't help but say: "I don't want to hurt you." In a moment Tony was suited up and the others were in fighting stances. Except Peter. Who was still looking shocked and rather confused as to what to do.  
Percy kept his eyes on Captain America in front of them and "suddenly" the eye rinse station behind them all burst, sloshing water everywhere and startling everyone.

"What the?" And Percy made his escape, rushing the door and- he was being pulled back in. By Thor. Who was apparently like his great uncle or something.

"That would have been convenient," Clint muttered.

Captain America spoke into his comms unit: "Everyone in the assembly room. ASAP."

"Okay but seriously can I phone a friend? She's got all the brain cells and I will not be useful if you want information." Percy pleaded as he was practically dragged out of the room.

"Tony what are you-" Percy stumbled as the men holding his arms stopped. "He is a minor! Put him down! Steven I am disappointed you let this happen." Pepper stormed over to them and the men immediately backed off, leaving Percy to fall to his knees without the support. Peter, coming from behind him, grabbed his upper arm and helped him up.

"I have no clue what's happening," he whispered to Percy.

"Your friends think I'm dangerous because I'm different," he whispered back, a sad look in his eyes as he shrugged. "It happens to me a lot." Peter's eyes hardened as he looked around at the distracted Avengers and pulled Percy into a side lab room.

"So," Percy's ADHD reared its head. "Spiderman, eh? A genius and a superhero?" Peter laughed nervously and shrugged.

"Long story. Let me take you home?" Peter pulled his mask over his face and held out a hand to Percy.

"Anything to get out of there. But you'll get in trouble," Percy reached out his hand but didn't grab Peter's yet.

"Mister Stark will forgive me. Come on," he reached out and pulled Percy into his arms (which was hilarious because Percy was both taller and bulkier than Peter was) and whisked him out of the open window.  
__________________

"Oh my God, Percy! You have got to stop disappearing! It's dinner time!" His mom hugged him and then looked up. "Spiderman?"

"Uh, yeah. Friendly neighborhood Spiderman... Just... Helping out. Can't have him late for dinner," Peter chuckled and Sally pulled him into a hug next.

"Thank you for bringing Percy home safely. He's always getting himself into trouble." She smiled at him as he stuttered out a "you're welcome" and flew off on his webs.

"So. You're friends with Spiderman now?" She winked at him.

"Moooooom!" He groaned as she laughed at him.

"Is he cute under the mask?"

"Mom!"

She cackled the entire way back into the house and halfway through dinner.


	5. Nico

"So what you're telling me," Pepper sat at the head of the assembly table. "Is after threatening that boy's mother and manhandling him. You scheduled a meeting with him and other children to talk about Avengers business?"

"It seems like he's had a change of heart," Tony shrugged. "What can I say? I'm persuasive."

"No." Pepper glared at him, and then Rogers, Banner, Barton, Wilson, Barnes, Romanoff, Odinson, Maximoff. "Peter is persuasive. And you're lucky you're his idol. And that he's so nice." She shook her head. "I don't want to be a part of it, but I will have JARVIS watching and he will alert me if anything happens. Do you understand me?" A series of nods followed her statement.

Moments after she exited, she escorted four teenagers into the room: Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, a younger boy in all black with black hair, and another boy with blonde hair and a scar on his lip.

"Welcome, thank you for meeting with us," Steve stood and shook their hands. "And you're sure there are no... Adults?" He asked uncertainly.

"We've been through enough to qualify," Annabeth replied. "You don't know us but you can see it," she added, her gray eyes piercing into Steve's blue ones. He nodded grimly.

"Okay what was that whole exchange about?" Tony asked, gesturing at the two. "Also who are your friends? Are you dangerous? Etcetera."

"You know me and Annie. This is Nico and this is my bro Jason," he gestures first at the dark-haired boy, and then clapped the blonde on on his back.

"Your bro?" Wanda asked.

"Yeah he's not really my brother and we have known each other for a very short amount of time but we bonded about being praetor," Percy said with a shrug.

"My congratulations! To be a praetor is an honor!" Thor boomed, standing and clapping both teens on their backs. "Though I thought you were Greek, Percy?"

"It's a long story about how I went missing and the details thereafter are a bit hazy for me, but yeah that happened."

"Yeah, the shortest time a guy was ever at camp and became a praetor. It's hella impressive," Jason beamed at Percy as he gushed to Thor.

"Thor, do you know these kids?" Bruce asked, trying to get the facts. He'd stayed quiet for most of the debate about meeting the kids, unsure of his own opinion on the matter.

"Well. You know I am a god," he began.

"Demigod," Clint interjected.

"No. He's a god," Annabeth confirmed. "And I have permission to disclose with you that we are demigods. There is a very large difference."

"As I was saying, I am a God. Of Asgard. These children have parents who are gods of Olympus," Thor continued.

"So now you're telling me there are Greek gods who have human kids?" Steve tried so hard not to roll his eyes. "Right."

"You already know a god, is it that hard to believe?" Jason asked.

"Why don't you speak?" Tony directed at Nico. The boy raised his eyebrows and shrugged one shoulder.

"I'm just the backup plan. I don't do politics," Nico replied and Jason scoffed.

"Okay 'Ambassador to Pluto,'" Jason laughed. "Doesn't do politics, very funny."

"Today I'm not here to do politics. Today im the back up plan."

"So if things go belly up you'll just *poof* into the shadows and escape?" Clint asked.

"Basically."

"Lovely, so why doesn't everyone sit down and we'll get started," Steve asked.

"Where's Peter?" Percy asked. "He said he'd be here."

"Worried about my intern, are we Jackson?" Tony inquired. "I'm more worried about you," he pulled out a file and started flipping through it. "Blew up the Gateway Arch, got in a gunfight, several accounts of vandalism and destruction of property, and there are the accounts from your stepfather," Percy's friendly demeanor dropped as he blanched.

"That's enough. What that won't tell you was how he saved the people on the Arch from a Chimera. Or how Lord Ares picked a fight with a twelve year old, lost, and made it look like a gunfight. How he's saved New York's sorry butt, and probably yours," Annabeth ranted at the billionaire, and Nico picked up after him.

"While you were picking fights with local villains Percy was leading us into battle against honest-to-gods hell beasts and monsters. He's one of the only reasons Manhattan isn't full of bodies. You're not going to come in here and tell us about things you know nothing about."

"And you, scarface? What have you got to say?" Tony asked Jason, who smiled and shrugged.

"Percy can take care of himself. He's a valiant leader and an even better swimmer."

"What does that ... What does that even mean" Bucky asked. But Jason did his job, he made Percy laugh.

"Too true, Sparky. It's my best trait," and he held his nose and did the snorkel dance, much to the amusement of his comrades.

"Kids. These are kids," Steve whispered, and Bucky patted him on the back. "Just to be clear. You have actually fought in a war? Like. Not your parents"

"Ha! As if our parents would fight their own wars!" Nico laughed. "That's what demigods are for."  
Steve was so close to losing his shit, and Bucky could tell. This was everything they'd hoped would never happen. More wars, more deaths, and now kids being recruited and trained. Carefree teenagers with that look in their eye every so often like they were battle-weary soldiers. And the scars. Some faint and some prominent, but they were covered in them. He planted his hand on Steve's shoulder and squeezed, just giving him some support. Steve sighed and tried to take the lead again.

"We want to negotiate a peace with you. We don't want to fight. At a very minimum we don't want to be on bad terms. We also want information."

"We have already given you way too much information. There's only so much we can disclose. And what we do say is only so that you have enough to know we're not a threat to you or other mortals," Annabeth replied. She was calculating how much they could tell them and how much Steve would need to know before he felt like he didn't need to watch them.

"I have only ever been called mortal by one other person," Clint mumbled. "He turned me into a puppet."

"Well we don't have god complexes. That's the point. We're not kings or queens. We're pawns. And we know it. We're not even in charge of who's chessboard we're on anymore," Jason reassured him (sort of, teenagers were so confusing).

"Also what's with the white streaks? Is it fashion?" Tony asked, and Percy and Annabeth both tugged on their hair.

"Oh my god, you can't just ask people why they have white hair," Percy laughed at his own joke as Annabeth simply shrugged.

"Atlas tricked us into holding up the sky and that kind of stress leaves a mark."

Silence.

"I'm sorry, what? How can we believe anything they say?" Tony asked the room in general.

"We just want you off our backs. So we're being as open as we can be. Even for silly questions," Annabeth deadpanned.

"We're getting off track," Steve sighed. "So you're demigods. One human and one godly parent?" He was greeted with nods. "Okay. Can you tell us who yours are? Or what your enhancements are? We need to get you on the enhanced list."

"Nope. No lists. This is confidential," Annabeth smiled sweetly. "If it isn't, we're leaving."

"If you leave, we'll out you and your friends," Tony snapped back.

"Who will believe you?" She snapped right back. "There's a secret society of trained demigod kids hiding out in an unknown and invisible area that, what? Saved our asses when we didn't even know we needed saving? Okay. Sure. You're too proud. You Avengers are New York's heroes. You don't want to give us any of the attention. And we don't want it."

He paused. “Valid.”

“Please tell us more about yourselves and your... camp... so that we know you’re not a threat,” the Captain tried to get them back on track.

“You know we’re demigods. You know we have a camp on the Long Island Sound. We have two adult supervisors. Otherwise we’re a bunch of kids. We don’t want to help you. The three of us,” Annabeth gestured to herself, Percy, and Jason. “We have been fighting since we were kids. And we don’t want any other kids to have to fight the battles that we have fought. I hope you’ll understand that,” she pleaded, looking Captain America straight in the eyes. “We know about you. That you weren’t asked, but that you would have done anything to have helped out the others. And we know that many of you aren’t even soldiers, but that you’re fighting anyway. But we are soldiers, and all of the little kids at the camp are soldiers. We just hope they’ll never have to fight. We didn’t have a choice like you did, Captain. We never did. We were born into this,” Annabeth put her hand on Percy’s shoulder and squeezed. “We don’t want any more kids to see what we have seen.”

“We can’t just leave you be and assume you won’t be a threat,” the Captain sounded apologetic but firm.

“We were never a threat,” Nico added, looking somber. “We’re Greeks. We only deal with Greek threats. We keep the world safe from monsters and giants and gods, but we don’t deal in anything else. Just like you deal with human threats and scientists and evils, we stay in our lane.”

“And what if there’s a threat we can’t handle and we could use demigod help?” Tony asked. “What then?” Captain Rogers looked conflicted at the comment, like he wasn’t sure where he was going with that.

“So you’re willing to ask a bunch of kids to help you?” That was Jason.

“Mister Stark! I got your message. You said not to come but I got worried and-” Peter burst into the room and assessed the situation. “What is going on here?”

“Peter the adults are talking, can you wait in the lab?” Tony stood and started walking towards the boy as Nico started laughing. Genuinely laughing. It was sort of disturbing seeing the gothic boy so genuinely... joyful.

“‘The adults are talking,’ that’s great, Stark. You’re interrogating a bunch of teenagers and you send your own teenage intern away? That’s great,” he laughed again as the man turned red. \

“Look, kid,” he grunted, turning towards the four of them again.

“Look, boomer. We’re not a threat. We don’t want anything to do with you and your band of murderers,” Annabeth growled. “Leave us alone. If you’re willing to be civil we will meet with you. Until then,” she shrugged and put her hand on Percy’s shoulder as Jason grabbed her hand and Nico pulled the three into the corner and disappeared.

“Well,” Steve turned towards Tony. “You screwed that up.”


	6. The Quest

"He's got a point," Steve turned to Tony. "Peter's just a kid. By rights he shouldn't even be here." Peter opened his mouth and Steve put up a finger to silence him. "I'm not saying you shouldn't be Spiderman or you shouldn't be interning here. I'm saying we shouldn't be dragging you into our fights. Because you're a minor and this is dangerous. We don't want to put anyone at risk. Especially kids. Especially kids with futures as bright as yours," Peter blushed at the praise but stood firm, not leaving the room.

"And I agree. These... Demigods... They're kids. And they don't want to fight. From what I know, they were born this way and didn't have a choice. I didn't intentionally get bit by a radioactive spider but when I found out what I could do i knew I couldn't keep it to myself. With great power comes great responsibility," he looked down for a moment. "And usually I would say the same thing to them. But it seems like they've already shouldered enough responsibility to take a break. I don't think you should pursue them." He backed towards the door and as he left he told them: "And I think if you do pursue them, you should probably invite the only teenager you know. I can relate to the better than any of you can, it might help you out next time," he shrugged and walked out of the room, leaving the adults to contemplate his words.

"He has a point, you know. He knows how to talk to them. All we've done is make a bad impression," Natasha stood, ready to be done with that whole situation.

"You just like him because he's your baby spider friend," Clint grumbled. 

"I like him because he's a good kid and he's a good influence on all of us," she corrected. "And because he's smarter than most of us combined. We are a psychological minefield and as soon as one of us blows the team blows and then there are no Avengers to save the world anymore. Peter knows how to deal with each one of us and how to bring us together. He's not supposed to be a part of this team but he is and he's currently the webbing that is holding us together after Tony and Steve had their lovers quarrel-"

"That I was not invited to, by the way," Thor interrupted.

She glared at Thor, then moved her gaze to Tony and Steve, who looked both sheepish and exasperated, like they'd heard this lecture a million times. "If we want to talk to the demigods anymore we're going to need him here. And Thor. So you better stick around," she pointed at the god in question and made her way to the door. "I agree that we may need their help but we need to make a better impression," she turned just her head and the hint of a smile appeared on her face. "Or we need to give them incentive."

___________

"We need a game plan," Jason was visiting for an extended period of time due to the external forces threatening Camp Half-Blood. The fricking Avengers were at their doorstep and asking for their help. And right after their battles no less? It felt like the Greeks' battle of Manhattan and the Romans' own battle had just happened when Percy and Jason switched places and all of this mayhem happened, and then BAM the Avengers need your help. Ridiculous.

"What we need is to get them off our backs," Annabeth agreed. She was gathered with Percy, Jason, and Nico. They were keeping this under wraps until it blew over, with only Chiron knowing about the issue at hand. Many of the kids, like Nico, would be so excited to meet the Avengers and have them asking for help. Then again many of the campers, unlike Nico, would be more than happy to help. And that was a problem. For several reasons.

"We can't just be out and about. Unless we pretend to be mutants, and let's be honest we are not all that good at keeping secrets, we can't just come out as demigods to the general public," Percy added. "That's just... Bad. On so many levels."

"Eloquently said, Seaweed Brain," she rolled her eyes but smiled at him. "But you're right. There is a whole list of reasons we can't out ourselves, and I agree that pretending to be mutants is not ideal. The best thing we can do is just get them to stop asking about us. We need to prove we're not a threat to them but how?"

"We can't just show them the camp. Then they would see kids sword fighting and playing battle games and generally looking threatening," Nico added. "But how else will they believe us?"

"What if we help them one time, suck at it, and then they don't bother us again?" Percy asked.

"While I appreciate you offering ideas, I think that would do more damage than good," Annabeth sighed. "I wish Chiron was willing to help but he insists this is a problem we need to solve. I wish we could just show them our memories so they can see what we've seen and can see that we need to stop fighting."

The four sat there for another hour throwing ideas at each other before quickly discarding them. It seemed like an unsolvable problem, and Annabeth hated that.

On the one hand, she loved having something to focus on, because after the Argo II successfully picked Percy up and returned everyone to their proper camp, Annabeth hadn't gotten any further on the Athena Parthenos problem. They had figured out which seven demigods needed to go, they were just having issues with... Well scheduling. Things were still  _ very _ tense with the Romans and they were making it difficult. It had been a month and no progress. Which was  _ frustrating _ because they needed to get on that quest! Gaea was waking! Annabeth shook her head. 

On the other hand, she hated having  _ another  _ unsolvable issue on her hands. 

________

She didn't have to wait much longer. Two days later a battered Frank and Hazel showed up at their doorstep and told them how they had to sneak out under Octavian's nose and the monsters they had fought to get there. 

"Well," Annabeth turned to the group. "Looks like the Avengers will have to wait."


	7. Tartarus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm rushing the storyline but I need to get to the good stuff

Peter had tried getting into contact with Percy, but he didn't know his cell phone number or what school he went to or any of his friends. That's how he found himself in front of his apartment after school one day. As Spiderman. If his mother answered the door, there was no way of explaining how Peter knew Percy other than that they'd met at Stark Industries and that probably would not go over well.

That being said, he felt a little ridiculous standing outside the door in his suit.

When the door did open, as Peter expected, Percy's mother answered.

"Spiderman?

"Uh, hi Mrs. Jackson ... I'm sort of friends with Percy and I haven't heard from him in a week. I was wondering if you had his cell phone number or something?" He asked nervously.

"Oh, Percy's on a school trip overseas right now and doesn't have cell phone service. He may not be back for a while, but I can have him call you when he's back if you leave your number," she smiled at him ushered him inside the apartment. It was homey, he thought, and covered in blue decorations. 

"I should probably go actually, it's getting close to dinnertime. But," he scribbled down his phone number. "Please have him call me. Thanks!" He smiled at her but she couldn't see past the mask.

He ended up visiting her again three weeks later but she said he was still on his school trip. It must be one of those couple month long trips, he thought. That would be cool.

It was two weeks after that that saw Sally Jackson at Stark Tower. It was right as Peter was coming in for his Saturday internship time and he reminded himself not to wave at her, as she only knew him as Spiderman. He sent a quick text to Mister Stark, telling him that Percy Jackson's mom was in the lobby for some reason.

It was less than a minute later when he received a text telling him to go wait in the labs. It was another minute or two before Mister Stark himself exited the elevator just as Peter was getting on. He wished he could be a part of the conversation but it wasn't really his place.

________

Tony noticed that the woman looked... Distressed. When he had visited her at her house all that time ago she was so vibrant and enthusiastic despite his words. When he greeted her with a "To what do I owe the pleasure," she bit her lip and looked around the room.

"Can we speak privately please?" Her somber demeanor took him off guard and he immediately ushered her into the elevator and into a conference room on the lab floor. This way Peter and Bruce were nearby in case he needed help dealing with hysterics. He didn't deal with emotions very well.

"I haven't heard from Percy in over a week," she burst out. "I know its demigod business but since you have been all up in their business recently," she bit her lip and looked up at him through wet eyelashes. "I was hoping you could help me find him." 

"Why would I want to?" Was his first response, and it was the  _ wrong  _ response, because she narrowed her eyes at him and crossed her arms. 

"You've been watching the camp and my house for over a month, sneaking into my son's business and trying to get him to fight battles for you. You better care about helping or you'll never get them on your side."

All valid points. Okay. He needed to reevaluate his tactics.

"And if I decide to help you, how do you suppose I do that?"

"I know you have some sort of AI, use that. I don't know I'm not a technology expert. And you have a team of super people living in your building," she shrugged and stared at him. "I don't know what to do but maybe you can help."

Tony sighed and ran his hand down his face. "I'll look into it and keep you updated," he escorted her back down to the lobby and saw her off, appeased for now.

He spoke into his comm unit: "Assembly room, now."

__________

Once he'd gotten the resident Avengers in the room plus Peter, he sighed and called for their attention.

"We have a demigod situation on our hands," Peter's spidey senses tingled at the back of his neck and he frowned. This would not be good.

"Our unwilling informant, Percy Jackson, we know has been overseas on a school trip for a little over a month. Thank you, Peter for that," he sighed again. "I've just been informed he's gone missing somewhere in Europe and hasn't been seen or heard from in over a week. I think this is our chance to get the demigods on our side. If we can save their savior, they owe us."

"How are we going to find him? Europe is an entire continent," Bucky frowned, and Steve nodded next to him.

"When his mom left she said he was supposed to be in Greece. So I'm assuming it's not actually a school trip," he rolled his eyes. Nobody ever gave him all the information. "And she said it was demigod business so we can probably look for his three friends on traffic cams and whatnot. If that doesn't work out, we may need to take a vacation."

"I think we should send a small team to Greece straightaway if we're going to go through with this plan, we can cover more ground that way," Wanda added.

"I don't hate the idea," Tony nodded at her. "Thoughts, Capsicle?"

"Sam and Clint would be least recognizable, but I'm tempted to send Wanda as well, she'd likely be able to neutralize any enhanced rogues they encounter," he looked pensive for a moment. "Maybe we just take a team vacation? We all split up. If we're not seen together then it will be less of an issue, and if this is as important as you make it seem," he made eye contact with Tony "then it might be prudent to have a of us on the lookout with you here to work with JARVIS." 

There was a general consensus and after little more discussion, JARVIS and Tony started their search while Wanda, Sam, Steve, Bucky, Clint, and Natasha quickly packed and boarded a quinjet. Peter was instructed to stay with Tony, though he was not happy about it. 

Working through JARVIS was slow going, and they saw nor heard of anything strange or related to the demigods. Sally had warned that that might happen because of "the mist," which makes magical events seem like mundane things to mortals. So that would be hard to get through. 

With the Avengers scattered to the winds and with them only knowing four demigods, it seemed almost  _ impossible _ to find them. They were scouring all ancient Greek locations and historic temples to the gods. It was actually Bucky and Steve (who, against Tony's instructions, went as a team) who saw Nico DiAngelo in Epirus. Him and several other kids who nearly immediately disappeared when they looked away to call in the others. 

"We've lost sight. Will update soon," Steve said into his comms unit. They searched the grounds for hours and their team slowly made their way to the location.

"Nothing more, Stark. Anything on your end?" 

"Nada. If you saw them though they have to be nearby. Keep on the lookout."

It was then that one Jason Grace emerged first out of the shrubbery, appearing to come from underground. As soon as he saw the assembly of heroes he threw himself towards them.

"You can't be here!" He whisper-shouted at them, glancing over his shoulder nervously. "Go on."

"What is going on?" Wanda matched his volume and tone. Jason looked around frantically. The bushes quivered behind him, likely his friends.

"Percy and Annabeth were stuck in Tartarus and we've been searching for the Doors of Death to help them escape. We just did but they're shaken up. I don't want them seeing you."

"Tartarus?" Steve asked, coming closer to the nervous boy. Jason big his lip and scrunched his face up.

"It's like ... The Underworld is sorta like Hell right?" He got nods from them to show they understood. "Okay, so Tartarus is like a living prison underneath Hell where all of the worst of the worst are trapped and where monsters go to die. The air you breathe is poison and there's no chance of survival. We don't know how they did it. But they're out and I don't want their first sight to be of you guys! They haven't seen the sky in weeks. Just... Leave us alone okay? Go hide," he pushed Steve towards the tree line and when the others hesitantly followed, Jason ran back and ushered his friends through to the clearing.

Steve watched as a group of kids slowly emerged into their view. It was... Heartbreaking.


	8. Recovery

Percy and Annabeth were walking with assistance from their friends on both sides. 

Annabeth had a makeshift splint around her ankle, it had certainly seen better days. She looked barely conscious, but Steve could see her sluggishly moving her legs and trying to support herself. Her hair was matted with blood and her clothes (also covered in blood) were torn to shreds, barely covering her. Everything about her screamed exhaustion except her eyes. Her eyes were wide open, frantically darting back and forth.

Steve would say Percy nearly looked worse. He looked so different from the last time Steve had seen him. Tan, muscular, charismatic. He was so pale and thin, and, like Annabeth, covered in blood. He looked feral. He was drooping forward, having his arms around two of his friends shoulders, and although it looked like they were speaking to him, he wasn't responding. His eyes, too, were wide and aware, darting around the clearing.

It was in that moment that Wanda stepped on a stick in her attempts to back into the forest, and all of the demigods froze. Except Percy. He was immediately on his feet, snarling, and had his sword in hand. Which was impressive because Steve hadn't seen the sword up until that point.

"Show yourself," Annabeth growled from her place beside Percy. Her voice was thin and worn, Steve could barely hear her. He signaled for the team to stay hidden, and he walked out of the forest with his hands above his head.

"Don't attack," he spoke slowly and calmly. "I'm just here looking for you, Percy. Your mom asked for us to help find you," Percy didn't falter, even at the mention of his mom. 

"Percy," Annabeth pulled free of the two girls holding her up and limped over to her friend. She placed a hand on his shoulder and spoke quietly to him, and Steve strained his hearing to pick it up.

"Percy, you have to tell the stars. You have to tell them what Bob said." Percy's stance dropped and the sword disappeared, turning into a... Pen... Okay. That's fine. 

Steve watched as Percy fell to his knees in the moonlight, face gaunt and bloodshot eyes wide as he stared at the night sky and gazed at the stars. Steve and his team, Annabeth and her team, they all stood frozen. Steve, personally, wondered who Bob was and what message he had asked Percy to relay to the stars. They watched on as he opened his mouth to speak, and closed it again. He sat back on his heels and placed his hands on his knees, digging his fingernails into his ragged jeans. It was a moment before Steve realized he wasn't going to speak at all. 

Annabeth fell to her knees beside him and started weeping. She was silent, just the sound of her breathing penetrating the crowd, though tears left tracks through the grime and blood on her face. 

Steve looked over at Jason, still frozen where he stood before.

"We have a quinjet. We can get you all home," he spoke quietly and slowly, trying not to startle any one of them. Jason nodded and Steve signalled for his team to slowly come out of the forest, though they all stayed behind him. 

It took a little bit of time to coerce Percy and Annabeth to stand, but the other demigods helped them to the quinjet that was waiting nearby.

The demigods were having a meeting, Percy sitting silently and Annabeth occasionally chiming in. It would be a few hours before they reached New York, but Steve assured them that medical services at Stark Tower were prepared for all of them, and that Percy's mom was waiting there as well. After that, they started talking about what they would have to debrief the other camp counselors on, acknowledging minor gods, and generally how to foster a relationship between the Greeks and Romans.

It was a relatively short flight, but to Steve it felt like ages.

____________

"Percy!" Sally pulled her son into her arms the moment they stepped off the jet. Peter (dressed as Spiderman), Tony, and Bruce stood to the side, awaiting the others and ready to usher everyone to medical.

When Tony saw his own team, he was glad to see them all in one piece. It wasn't a particularly dangerous mission, but you never knew. It was the kids that bothered him. He was trying not to think about the fact that these were kids and teenagers but now he was face to face with it. There was a pretty large group of them but none of them looked as bad as Annabeth and Percy. They would need to be in medical for a few days. He was sure Steve would explain during his debrief, not that Tony really wanted to know. And, besides giving them a ride home, they hadn't helped at all so the kids had no incentive to help them.

"Can we sit down soon?" Annabeth asked the group in as a whole. "It's been a long couple weeks. And can we have water? We've been living on liquid fire for weeks and it is not pleasant," she sighed dreamily at the thought of water.

"Is she delusional?" Tony asked Jason (since Percy was sort of out of commission, Jason seemed like next in charge).

"Uh, no. I'm pretty sure the only form of sustenance in Tartarus is a river of liquid fire..." He trailed off and scratched his head, trying to think if there was actually anything edible in Tartarus.

"Jesus Christ," Steve grumbled and started ushering everyone inside. "Let's go, inside, everyone to medical." He was so tired of this.

"Come on, Percy," Sally and Jason each had one of Percy's arms over their shoulders. "You know Spiderman came to visit you while you were gone? He was worried about you. You should talk to him more. He left his phone number. Wouldn't that be nice?" He didn't respond, but she and Jason kept chatting with him softly until they sat him down on a bed in the medical area.

"We're just going to cut what's left of your shirt off so we can clean you off and take a look at your wounds, okay?" A nurse asked Percy, who nodded vaguely in reply. Percy and Annabeth had their own rooms, and the rest of the demigods got sent off after a quick check up and some bandaging. 

Jason winced as they did though, having stayed in the room after helping Percy in. Through the muck and blood, Jason could count all of Percy's ribs. He could see some wounds that were clearly infected, and others that were already scarring over (rather hideously). 

It took everything in him not to wince or cry when Percy slowly turned his head towards Jason and looked into his eyes. His normally vibrant sea-green eyes were dull and glassy. Like he wasn't even looking at Jason. It was haunting.

______

They left two days later, a combination of modern medicine, nectar, and ambrosia having healed them quickly. The only real issues left were malnourishment and muscle decay. And severe psychological damage, Annabeth thought to herself as she walked with Percy through the Camp archway. Stark's intern, Peter, had come by to talk to Percy twice, even though Percy hadn't spoken yet. She shrugged to herself. People dealt with trauma in different ways. Maybe he just needed time.

It wasn't like anything else had changed, she thought. He was back in perfect fighting form in under a month, his skin was glowing and healthy, she couldn't see his ribs anymore. His wounds were healed. He just hadn't said anything. At all. To anyone. Or smiled. She missed his smile and his stupid jokes and seaweed brain comments. She never knew what he was thinking.


	9. Percy

Percy felt fine, really. He picked up sword fighting practice again and whipped himself back into shape, taking daily swims across the lake and sparring with Nico and Jason (until he left again for Camp Jupiter). 

He felt like his daily life was perfectly fine. As long as he kept busy. As soon as his mind had a break all he could think of was Bob, Calypso's curse, the feeling of the death mist. And if that wasn't bad enough, the dreams were worse. He had almost killed a  _ goddess _ . And he would have, if Annie hadn't stopped him. 

He was just afraid if he spoke it would all come out, it would all come back to him, and this fragile peace he had formed would shatter. He didn't think his mind could handle anymore stress. As long as he kept Tartarus in his dreams, his waking time would be... Bearable.

The nightmares that night were about Akhlys. But this time he did choke her out and she did die. And he  _ reveled _ in his power. It was what he was most afraid of. Because every time he pushed himself and his powers he felt this dark sort of energy emanating from himself. Nearly everything on this Earth was made of water. And he could manipulate almost all of it. He'd seen the episode of Avatar where Katara figured out bloodbending and the thought made him curious, and that scared him. He was afraid one day his powers would overtake him and he would hurt someone. Annie was already kind of afraid of him because of the Akhlys thing. He didn't need anybody else knowing about that. She hadn't told anybody and neither would he.

He was hoping the sickness the dream made him feel would go away soon because he, Annabeth, and Nico were going to see his mom for lunch.

They were taking a different route though, and he wasn't sure why.

When they arrived at Stark Tower, he was more than confused. When they were greeted in the lobby by Steve, Sam, and Bucky (was that a coincidence? He wasn't sure), he was confused and sort of frustrated. What was his friends' plan?

"You're both looking better," Bucky commented and Percy smiled at him and gave a thumbs up, causing the older man to chuckle. 

"Look," Annie cut to the chase, but Percy wasn't sure what that was. "You," she pointed at Sam, "are the only person we know who knows how to deal with PTSD," oh no. Percy's eyebrows drew in as he whipped his head towards Annabeth, then towards Nico (who shuffled his feet awkwardly and shrugged.) He knew where this was going. He shook his head frantically. He did not need therapy. He opened his mouth to say so and Nico's eyebrows shot up, but he snapped his mouth shut immediately, afraid of what would come out. 

"I know you don't want to be here," she said to him, but he could tell she wouldn't budge on this. "But we are not equipped to help you enough. Your powers are growing and they're lashing out," he flinched. He once got mad at Connor Stoll and  _ accidentally  _ almost boiled his blood. He controlled his anger, but Connor still had popped blood vessels in his eyes and face. It wasn't good. "I know you don't mean to, and i know you don't want it but you're the most powerful demigod in our generation. You need to control your powers, and to do so, you need to deal with what happened." He scoffed in his head. Like she was dealing with it? She didn't sleep and barely ate, just reading and writing like her life depended on it. "And i know what you're thinking. Because I also am not dealing well. But i don't have superpowers," she put her hands on her hips. "I love you like a brother. But you need help. And you," she pointed at all three veterans. "You don't have a choice. You're all too noble not to help. And you'll have our unending gratitude. So we owe you. You can't pass that up."

"You can't force someone into therapy," Sam countered. "And how do you know we're equipped to deal with his powers lashing out?"

Nico scoffed. "You have a cage that holds the Hulk and multiple gods. I'm sure it'll take Percy just fine." Percy backed up a step, eyebrows raising. They would put him in a cage?

"We're not going to put you in a cage," Bucky tried to reassure him, but he kept backing up until he ran into someone. It was Peter. He must have internship time scheduled. Percy tried to say "get me out of here" with his eyes but it did not come across well because Peter scooted to the side and headed towards the veterans.

"What is going on here?" He shrugged his backpack further up his shoulder.

"We're staging an intervention," Annabeth said resolutely and Percy rolled his eyes.

"And what do you have to say about that?" Peter asked him and Percy narrowed his eyes at him.

"Yes, Percy. What do you have to say about it?" Annie asked him pointedly.

He stood there and pursed his lips. They wouldn't be getting anything out of him. Not today. Not when he was so... So... Betrayed! Frustrated! He felt his eyes burning and he willed the tears to evaporate. He couldn't believe them! He felt like he was vibrating he was so angry! Furious! And Nico, too? When had he decided to betray Percy like this? He couldn't believe it. 

It was loud. Everything was too loud! What was that noise? It was distracting him, it was-

"Percy stop!" Annabeth. What did she mean, he wasn't- oh. It was pouring. In the lobby. Stark was going to kill him.

"I think it best you tell us who his godly parent is," Steve deadpanned, wet hair flat on his face as he raised one eyebrow at them.

"You have to understand the Big Three," Ananbeth sighed. "Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades aren't supposed to have demigod kids because they're too powerful, too volatile," she side-eyed Percy. "Percy is Poseidon's son. He controls all water outside the Sea of Monsters. But we've had to be careful since," she flinched slightly here. "Since we were in that place. I don't want to divulge this information without Percy's explicit consent but the situation is dire," she bit her lip. The rain stopped but there was still water running down her face. He wasn't sure what she was going to say, honestly. But she turned back to Steve with pleading eyes. "You have to understand he's not a weapon, okay? It's just... You have to be careful. The human body is about 60% water... If you're ever in a fight the odds aren't in your favor," Percy couldn't believe she would imply... He would never... But he almost did, with Akhlys. He hung his head and again had to will the tears to evaporate so they wouldn't see him cry. 

Peter shifted from one foot to the other, weighing the situation. This was obviously a very personal issue and there wasn't much he could do about it, but ever since the first time met Percy he had  _ felt _ for him and felt his struggles. He didn't know what to do. 

While Peter struggled internally, Bucky walked over and placed a hand on Percy's shoulder.

"There's always a place here for people who need help. You should have seen me when I got here," he reassured the teenager and stepped back before he started crowding him. He was rewarded with a small smile from the boy who then, one by one, touched each of them on their shoulders and immediately the water on them wicked away and they were dry again. 

"We're going to have to talk to Tony about this, it is his tower after all," Steve sighed at the thought. "But even he can't deny he's a big softie with a savior complex. If you're willing to, I'm sure he'd let you stay here while you get rehabilitated. We can probably work something out with your mom, too," Percy frowned again. He didn't need to be rehabilitated. So what if not talking was his coping mechanism? He honestly wasn't sure what horrible stories would come spewing out if he did open his mouth. 

"Mister Stark will definitely let you stay," Peter smiled at him. He could get used to Peter's constant positivity and brightness. 

What if Percy didn't want to stay? What about that? He didn't want to talk to Sam about PTSD. He wouldn't understand. Not the abusive stepfather. Not being thrust into a world of gods and monsters at twelve. Being betrayed by your mentor. Fighting a war when he was barely fifteen. Having a goddess take his memories and living on the streets for months. Fighting monsters  _ constantly _ . Going to... To that place. He shuddered. 

"You okay there, kiddo?" Percy jumped. He hadn't even seen Mister Stark wall over to them. "Why is everything... Wet? What happened?"

"I'll explain later," Steve told him. "I think we're adopting Percy Jackson," he said, and Tony's eyes shot up his forehead at the same time Percy vehemently shook his head 'no.' 

"I don't think he wants to be adopted," he smirked. "Maybe we should ask him what he wants."

"Here we go again," Nico mumbled.

"What was that?" Tony turned to the younger boy.

"I said here we go again. We just did this. He doesn't talk," Nico rolled his eyes and gestured at Percy who opened his mouth to retort, and then snapped it shut and crossed his arms over his chest. Fine. Be that way. 

"He doesn't- what?" He turned to Percy and narrowed his eyes. "What's wrong with you?" What... What kind of a question was that? Percy's eyebrows drew together and he pursed his lips, indignant.

"Oh my god you can't just... Jesus christ," Bucky ran his hand down his face. "I can't even."

"What? What's wrong with him? Cat got your tongue?" Percy was sure Tony wasn't... Taunting him? Was he? Because he was  _ so  _ not in the mood. 

"Tony," Steve warned, putting on his "Captain America is Disappointed" face.

"What? What's the deal? He just doesn't talk now? Is there something actually wrong with him or is he just-" he was silenced as Nico's bony fist connected with his face.

Annabeth snarled at him. "Do  _ not _ finish that sentence. You  _ will _ regret it." 

Tony reeled back, ready to snap at them, and Bucky and Steve each grabbed one of his shoulders.

"You can make fun of us all you want. We're your teammates," Steve started.

"What you can't do is make fun of a teenage boy. Especially one who is so politely asking for help," Bucky finished. "And you especially can't hit his friends."

"Not that you should punch people you don't like, Nico," Steve looked at Nico with the disappointment face. Nico was unimpressed.

"You would do it if he was talking to Bucky," Nico deadpanned, stopping Steve in his tracks, who (to nobody's surprise) nodded.

Percy watched this all happen like he was underwater. Like he could hear them but he couldn't discern what they were saying. He was so filled with embarrassment about not talking, not being able to talk, not being able to... Cope. And as the embarrassment filled him, he got angry. How dare they make him feel this way? They didn't  _ know. _

He turned on his heel and stormed away, aiming for the door but being pulled back by Annabeth's hand on his sleeve. He would have pulled away, and he could have too, but he saw the pleading look on her face.

"Please, Percy. You need help," she whispered. He shook his head at her, thinking _ please please pleeeaase don't make me do this.  _ "Please," her eyes were shining as she pleaded with him. 

"Why would we let him stay here if he's a danger?" He could hear Tony behind him and he frowned.

"You let me stay," Dr. Banner must have come downstairs with Tony.

"Okay but that's different."

"How?"

Percy tuned it out and looked at Annabeth. 

"Percy you could hurt people if you're not careful. I know you don't want that," she whispered. Percy pressed his lips together in frustration. He knew she was right but he couldn't believe she'd put him in this situation. He nodded once, eyes soft. 

He turned and tuned back into the conversation.

"Fine, but he's getting a suite on the same floor as Steve, Sam, and Bucky. They'll all have access to his rooms. Maybe Wanda, too. If he needs neutralizing," Percy paled.  _ Neutralizing? _ That didn't sound good, maybe this wasn't a good idea. He tried to back up again but this time Annabeth was behind him offering a supportive smile.

"You're scaring him. Stop," Bruce sighed.

"I'm not scaring him, the kid has literally been through hell. He'll be fine. And he can still train with swords and go sunbathing," Tony eyed him up. "Seriously why are you so tan? You were underground for weeks." Percy shrugged and winked, a little bit of his humor coming back to him.

"I've been asking him that forever. I'm cursed to be pale 24/7/365," Nico sighed dramatically, causing a bubble of laughter to escape Percy's chest, though it sounded more like a heavy exhale.

"Good!" Bucky clapped his hands once. "We just need to talk to Sally about temporarily adopting her son. Peter," the boy in question straightened and looked startled for a moment. "Can you get your Aunt to vouch for Tony as a decent respectable adult figure?" 

"Uh Mister Winter Sir I don't think May likes Mister Stark that much ... She found out about the airport fight and it's been downhill since then..." He scratched the back of his neck.

"Okay so May is a no go. That's fine. I'm super nice and this time  _ I  _ will make  _ her _ cookies. So that'll be great," he nodded to himself and Percy watched as Steve tried to hold in his amused laughter at his friend's antics. 

These people were willing to put their necks out for him... Maybe he could be a  _ little _ more helpful. As long as there was no  _ neutralizing _ . Percy poked Peter in the side and did charades for texting, prompting Peter to hand Percy his Starkphone.

Unfortunately Percy had never used a smartphone before.

"We can't use phones, he has no clue how to use that. Just take him to an app to take notes on," Annabeth helped out there and Peter nodded before clicking on his notes app.

He typed: 'Call her first. She hates when people just show up' and typed in their landline number, and put the phone in front of Bucky's face.

"Thanks," Bucky said with a smile as soon as Tony said "Wait. Please take me back to 'no phones.' What kind of cult is this?"

Annabeth sighed. "There's a lot of things about demigods you don't know. Maybe when i come visit Percy you and I can have meetings about this. Now that you'll have one of us living here there are things you should know. First lesson: demigods outside camp attract monsters. Percy will be the only one able to see through the mist to fight them. It will probably look like he's being attacked by a dog or fighting an old woman but I assure you now: it is a monster," Annabeth spoke clearly so they all could hear. "You're in extra danger but Percy can take care of it." 

"Extra danger. Danger we can't see. Nice." Tony rolled his eyes. "I guess there's no take-backsies?" 

"Nope. This is my protegeé now." Bucky slung his arm around Percy's shoulders.

"Hah. Percy could kick your butt," Nico bragged and Percy froze and shook his head.

"I honestly don't doubt it, given the right weapon. We'll need to get you a non-magic sword so it actually works against us mortals, eh?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are about to get rough.

Day one (one week from the intervention).

Percy's favorite Avenger  _ by far _ was Bucky. He had shown Percy the Avengers community kitchen and common room, had formally introduced him to the other Avengers, and was  _ basically _ the only person who wasn't either A) scared of him or B) worried about him. 

Percy was pretty sure the only reason he was given access to the Avengers floors was so that they could watch him and make sure he didn't go cookoo bananas and kill them all, but he had been poor for long enough to not look a gift horse in the mouth. And what a horse it was. He had a  _ suite _ . Not a room. A suite. He sort of wished his mom could stay here but he didn't want to ask too much. 

That was besides the point.

Bucky had also acquired a perfectly balanced mortal sword for him. (Clint's casual 'I know a guy' was sort of sketchy but he appreciated it nonetheless). He hadn't started training with it, but he was excited to. Bucky did show him the training room though, and Tony's state of the art robot sparring system.

Where they were right now, though, was honestly Percy's favorite part so far.

The walls were floor to ceiling windows and the entire room was a massive crystal clear swimming pool.

_ Oh, Hell yeah _ , Percy thought to himself. 

"I take it you like water?" Bucky laughed a little at his childlike excitement.  _ Right,  _ Bucky thought,  _ son of Poseidon. _ Percy was pretty sure Bucky was taking him on because he reminded him of himself, but he didn't mind. It was nice to have someone relatable around. 

Percy nodded enthusiastically with the biggest grin Bucky had seen on him since that first time at his mom's apartment. 

"You should definitely go for a swim later, then. The view is really nice too-" he cut himself off as Percy ran across to look out the window at New York City sprawled below him. What Bucky was having difficulty with was that Percy had  _ run across the room that was entirely covered in water _ and was standing on his tip-toes  _ on the water  _ to look out the window. "Uh so you can walk on water. That's fun. You'll have to show me some other tricks later, Jesus," he laughed at his own mediocre joke and called for Percy to come back over so he could finally show him to his suite.

The suite was, to Percy's astonishment, blue as  _ Hell. _ He bet his mom had something to do about that.

"Wow, that's a lot," Bucky whispered with raised eyebrows. "Also, Peter said winter break is about to start but Stark and your mom are working on getting you to start school in January so-" he paused as Percy emitted a long-suffering groan and threw his hands up. He opened and closed his mouth a few times and settled in a grumpy-cat looking face with crossed arms. "Oh, right!" Bucky ran into the living room and came back with a white board and marker. "If there's anything you ever want to say to us, just write it down quick," he handed it over and watched as Percy narrowed his eyes at him and started writing. Very slowly. Very deliberately. It was nearly a minute before he revealed his scratchy handwriting: 'I am hella dyslexic. I don't write anything quickly.' 

"Oh," Bucky whispered and hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe we can get you a Starkpad that works only on airplane mode so it doesn't attract monsters to you, and you can type notes on there. That way you only have to deal with the reading and not the writing," he tried to help, but Percy could just imagine it. Regular qwerty style keyboards weren't even in alphabetical order! They made his Greek-wired brain go haywire. That gave him an idea and he rubbed his sleeve on the white board to erase it and started meticulously writing again. Bucky waited patiently and didn't speak, to Percy's appreciation.

'If you get one with an ancient Greek keyboard that translates to English, i can write faster.' he shrugged when Bucky's eyes widened.

"So you're only dyslexic with regular letters and numbers, but you fluently understand ancient Greek?" He pursed his lips thoughtfully at Percy's nod. "We can probably ask Tony to do something about that. I'll look into it. Is there anything you want to do today, or do you want to get settled in?"

Another swipe of Percy's sleeve and he started writing again. He was, again, very appreciative of Bucky's silence and patience. And his ability to read Percy's chicken scratch.

'I need to train with the sword every day. Training room?' Bucky nodded and started leading the way.

"Every day? Isn't that a bit much? Even Steve and I take breaks once or twice a week. Well," he said thoughtfully. "Steve goes for a run seven days a week but he does take breaks with the weight room and punching bag once or twice a week. You have to let your muscles recover," Percy let an amused huff come out through his nose as he paused to write something down. It was quicker this time.

'I'm not human.'

"Right," Bucky said suspiciously, "So human rules don't apply? So you never rest?" Percy shook his head with a closed-mouth smile before pausing to write again. It was going to take a while to get to the training room if Percy had to keep responding.

'You never know when you'll be attacked. Best to always be prepared,' he showed it to Bucky with a small shrug, like he was sort of embarrassed.

"Fella, I feel more and more like this demigod thing is some weird cult," when he looked at Percy, his face had darkened slightly as he nodded at Bucky's comment.  _ Damn, _ Bucky thought,  _ this poor kid. Forced to train every day. Probably hand to hand as well. Maybe with other weapons... _

They arrived at the training room and Bucky brought him through the regular weight lifting section, past the punching bags and to the new addition. Tony's new adaptive robot sparring system.

"You can use this whenever any of us aren't available to spar with you. None of us know how to use a sword so we'll have to figure something out, but you can adjust the settings out here for the level of difficulty, or direct JARVIS from inside... Well he's voice activated so actually no..." He trailed off. "But, it's pretty intuitive, you can choose what weapon it uses and it will adapt to your moves as well to keep you on your feet. Got it?" As Percy was nodding, Clint's voice came down through the air vent.

"I know of at least two people who know how to use katanas. They aren't exactly prime for sword fighting but they make good opponents."

"Jesus, stop that!" Bucky startled. "Stop sneaking up on me. I feel like I need to train more with Natasha to get my super spy skills back on track," he shook his head. "Wait. Who do we know who knows how to use katanas?"

"Well myself, for one. I'm an expert in most weapons. And Deadpool," came the tinny voice. The grate popped open as Clint lowered himself to the floor.

"Deadpool?" Bucky asked, but raised his eyebrows as he saw Percy roll his eyes  _ so hard  _ they could have gotten stuck there.

"You know the guy?" Clint laughed. "That's the reaction he gets from a lot of people. What'd he do to you?" Percy scrunched his face up as he furiously began writing. Clint, used to being a sniper, waited quietly for one, two, three minutes as the teen struggled to write.

"Dyslexia," Bucky explained after Percy had finished. The boy stuck his tongue out as Clint nodded sagely, now understanding the struggle.

Percy turned his white board around for them.

'I was fighting a harpy. The mist made it look like a little old lady. Deadpool stabbed me. And made sarcastic jokes the entire time.' After the read it he turned it around, wiped it off, and started scribbling on it again.

'That's my job. I'm the sarcastic idiot. It's my thing.'

He raised one eyebrow as both men started laughing and he couldn't help but think fondly on his memories of sending Medusa's head to Mount Olympus.

"Oh man, that's good. Can't wait to hear stories about that," Bucky sighed. He raised his finger as he remembered something. "Oh! Annabeth said it would be hard to leave camp often because monsters but she'll try to visit and spar with you. But until then you can spar with us if we're around." 

"I mainly do long-distance weaponry but I can spar hand to hand. We can all do hand to hand, really, if you ever need training on that. But not with Steve, he fights dirty," Percy smiled wickedly at that. It was the demigod way. Do anything to survive. "I also have a katana but it's not my weapon of choice. Bucky uses knives and guns. If you ever want gun training i would ask him or myself. Tasha is good with most weapons but she'll teach you some crazy gymnastic wrestling moves if you're ever without a weapon. Steve has a shield so sword fighting could work out there. Bruce doesn't spar. Wanda uses magic so you could maybe spar with her using your powers. Who am I missing?" He looked at Bucky.

"Thor isn't here a lot but I'm sure he would  _ love _ to fight with swords or hammers or anything, really. And Peter. He doesn't spar a lot because he's doing science, but he is superhumanly strong and does fancy gymnastics stuff when he fights so he's a slippery opponent. And if you ever tire of the sword we also have a new collection (thanks Thor) of various spears, maces, tridents, and axes," he pointed to the back wall which opened up to showca wall of mounted weapons. 

Percy's mouth gaped open. Damn. And a trident? He ran over to it and looked it up and down, afraid to touch it. It looked  _ sharp.  _ He would have fun with that. He scribbled some words down on the white board excitedly and showed it to the two men.

'Have I showed you Riptide?'

"What's Riptide?" Clint asked and Bucky followed with "Nope."

Percy beamed as he pulled his magic sword out of his pocket.

"Riptide is a pen." Clint stated. Percy put it back in his pocket to write out another message.

'Its magic. It appears in my pocket whenever I lose it.' 

"Like the sword of Gryffindor?" Bucky asked, and luckily Percy had seen that movie, and nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, if the sword of Gryffindor was a pen," Clint scoffed and Percy held the pen out in front of him again.

The two men watched slightly skeptically and Percy uncapped the pen, only for it to magically transform into a celestial bronze sword.

"Holy mother of Thor," Clint whispered. He went to poke it, but his finger went right through it.

"Celestial bronze can't hurt mortals. It's why we got him a regular old non-magic sword," Bucky explained.

Percy wrote: 'It slaps, I know.' 

"It slaps? What does that even mean?" Clint threw his hands up. "Kids these days."

"'It slaps' means it's awesome. Context clues, Clint," Natasha walked into the room, looking ready to fight someone. She wasn't wearing her catsuit, and Percy was a little shocked to see the super spy in a pair of running shorts and a faded t-shirt that said "I put the ass in assassin." He raised his eyes at that and she smirked.

"It was a gift." She looked over her shoulder. "I'm supposed to spar with Steve. He was right behind me. Tragic," she sighed. 

"Well, I was just showing Percy the new training room. I, personally, have never used it before so I was going to watch and see how it goes. Clint just dropped out of the ceiling so who knows what he's up to," Bucky looked at the man in question.

"I'll be around."

"I'll stay and watch until Steve shows up," she raised an eyebrow at Percy who shrugged. "It goes up to level ten. Let's start at one, using swords, shall we?"

Percy nodded and grabbed his new sword from the weapons wall before setting the level to one and entering the room. It was made of reinforced glass, so they could see inside and he could see out, but he was focused on the robot (probably nanotech) that emerged seamlessly from the wall. It reminded him of the dummies they used to fight at Camp Half-Blood, but way fancier.

Percy took his fighting stance as a sword emerged from the robot's arm appendage thing and awaited his opponent's first move.


	11. Chapter 11

It was sad, really, Percy thought to himself. Level one was practically him when he first learned to use a sword. It was a beginner's level. He got that now.

He disarmed the robot with one light blow and took its head off with the next. It immediately reformed and stood still.

"You have defeated your opponent," came JARVIS' voice from above.

Percy glanced over as a knock sounded on the glass.

"Level two?" Bucky mouthed the words through the (presumably) soundproof glass. He held up two fingers as well and Percy nodded. He would slowly go up until he reached something he couldn't beat.

Level two lasted a little longer, but it was still less than three minutes when Percy kicked it's legs out from under it and stabbed it in the heart-area.

He looked over at the glass and the two assassins watching him with exasperation in his eyes. 

Bucky sent him a questioning look and held up five fingers. Skipping three and four? Sure, Percy was down. He nodded and Natasha rolled her eyes. 

This time, he actually had a little bit of fun toying with the machine. It matched his parries and started learning from his fighting style. They danced around each other, but it ended soon when Percy kicked it in the knee, causing it to crumple like a hand would, and beheaded it. He was at least breathing a little heavier from this one, having crossed the room a few times.

Six? Bucky offered six fingers and Percy gave a thumbs up. 

And Percy thought six was almost match to himself. The others increased slowly at a rate he anticipated, but six was (from what little he knew about math) exponentially harder. Percy thought it was probably pretty close to his own skill. It anticipated his moves and blocked both his blows with the sword,  _ and _ the blows he was throwing with his fist and feet. 

God, he loved training. He hated fighting, but he loved the rush of adrenaline that filled him, he loved relying on muscle memory but still having to learn new things and adapt to his opponent. Finally! Something fun! He let out a laugh as the robot sword caught him on the bicep and drew a line of blood. He got his payback by running at it and sliding between its legs, swinging his sword in an arc and slicing its legs clean through as he gracefully slid to his feet. His opponent fell, though it still swung it's sword at Percy, and he quickly thrust his sword into the robot's heart-area again, ending the match. As the robot reset, Percy smiled wildly at his viewers (Steve had arrived to spar with Natasha but was watching as well with a curious look on his face). 

Six was good, Percy thought. Six was almost an even match to himself. But Percy didn't  _ want _ an even match. He wanted to be  _ challenged. _

When Bucky held up seven fingers, Percy nodded enthusiastically and turned back to his opponent after he'd seen Bucky mess with the control panel.

Okay, level seven, he thought. Let's go.

___________

"It's pretty impressive," Steve commented as Percy began battling level seven. 

"But if this is the only weapon he can use, it might be a problem," Natasha replied.

"We're not training him for anything so he doesn't need to know more than one weapon. He's just exercising," Bucky scolded the woman. "He's not fighting with us  _ ever _ , so there's no need. Plus, unless we can suddenly make celestial bronze bullets, his sword is the only thing that can protect him against monsters."

She shrugged at him and kept watching. It looked like seven was challenging the teen. It anticipated his every move and he couldn't land a blow. He'd been using basic moves, nothing like what she could do, but she commended him for the skills he did have for such a young kid. The sword fighting was impressive, but she raised an eyebrow as the bot knocked him to the ground and pointed it's sword at his throat, having defeated him

But as she watched, Percy grit his teeth and snarled at the bot, tilting his chin and using his fist to just... Natasha shook her head. She forgot about the superhuman strength thing he had going on. He  _ punched _ the flat of the blade, knocking the bot back and allowing him time to rise and regain his fighting stance.

They threw themselves at each other, a blur of metal and shiny white nanotech, parrying and blocking. Natasha had to admit she was impressed by both his skills and his perseverance. Unfortunately, the bot finally got Percy on a headlock with the sword, not allowing him to escape or fight back this time.

Percy, panting now, dropped his sword and raised his arms in defeat.

He turned to them with a slightly... Off... But nonetheless beaming smile and gave a thumbs up.

"Why do I feel like he's fighting with one hand tied behind his back?" Steve inquired, honestly looking a little concerned.

"We'll have to see him spar with his powers. We don't really know what we can do other than control water," Bucky replied. "I think... I think he's a lot more powerful than any of us know. I think he doesn't even know how powerful he is. Imagine if he had real training, I mean with a real sword fighter, not with a bunch of teenagers. We had to take him to level seven out of ten just to challenge him." He shrugged. "He could be more powerful than all of us. Maybe we should see if Thor would train him."

"I don't like that idea. I don't like the idea of a severely traumatized kid being trained by a centuries-old god. That's power we can't control," Steve said darkly. When Percy lost to level seven he had a wild look in his eyes, something almost feral, like Steve had seen right after he emerged from Tartarus. 

Percy fought and lost to level seven six more times before calling it quits. When he emerged from the room, Clint smirked at him.

"I know you don't like Deadpool, but he is  _ actually _ unkillable. You should see if you can spar with him. Using the sword  _ and  _ your powers. That would be real training for you, eh?" Percy looked skeptical, but wrote a messy 'Maybe' on his white board.

"I'll get on it," Clint nodded and drew himself back into the vent, closing it and silently making his exit.

"You should take him up on that," Natasha directed at Percy. "You should try training with us, as well. You could hone your skills even more." And with that, she left as well, leaving him with Steve and Bucky.

"I think I was supposed to be sparring with her," Steve frowned over his shoulder. "I'll see you guys later," he followed after the assassin.

"And then there were two," Bucky smiled. "You're probably exhausted," Percy shrugged. He was used to training  _ all day _ in several forms of combat. He could keep going. He bit his lip as he struggled to write quickly.

'I could do this all day.'

Bucky choked at the phrase and then smiled fondly.

"Sure you can. Well feel free to use any of the equipment, I'll be around," he left with a thumbs up and headed to the weights.

Percy didn't really know what to do with himself after that. He could run on the treadmill, he could do weight lifting, but he was so used to doing everything with a partner or a group of kids, he wasn't really sure how to train on his own. 

It was then that Peter showed up. Percy thought he didn't come here to train often, but maybe since it was winter break he had more free time. Percy smiled brightly and enthusiastically waved at his new friend. They hadn't spoken much but Percy had a good feeling about him. When he was in medbay and Peter visited him those two times, he told him about getting bit by a radioactive spider and a little about his parents and Uncle. He talked about how much he loved his Aunt and how supportive she was. He talked about getting the internship with Stark and about the Vulture and that time a building collapsed on him. He learned a lot about Peter that way.

"Hey, Percy! I see you've found the training room," Peter hurried over in his gym shorts and graphic t-shirt. Percy tried to decipher it but Peter kept moving. "I was just coming to try weight lifting for the first time! I used to be super out of shape, but with the whole spider thing I still haven't figured out how strong I am," he shrugged with a smile. "Time to find out," they heard a laugh from the other side of the room.

"Strong enough to block a metal fist coming straight at your face. Don't you listen to him be humble, Percy. He'd out-lift any of us. Freaky spider strength," Bucky fell silent and they could hear metal moving as he kept lifting. 

Percy raised his eyebrows at Peter, who blushed the most adorable shade of pink, in Percy's humble opinion.

"Yeah that happened, but what's way cooler is having a metal arm!" Percy smiled at Peter's geekiness, nodding thoughtfully at the idea of metal prosthetics. It was pretty cool. It reminded him of the whole Icarus deal and he shuddered.

"What?" Peter tilted his head to the side as Percy scrambled to write the word down: 'Icarus.'

"Wait that was a real thing that for realsies happened?" Peter gasped. "How dumb can you get?" Percy was so shocked by the answer one loud laugh escaped his mouth and he covered it with his hand quickly as more tried to bubble out. He finally composed himself but couldn't help the silly smile on his face.

Peter, for his part, was pleased and surprised to have gotten a laugh from the mute teen. But he remembered why he was there.

"Oh, right! Weight lifting! I have to tell Ned how much I can lift. He's the only other person who knows I'm Spiderman. And my BFF. You'll have to meet him sometime! My class is coming to do a tour of Stark Tower next week for some winter break science/engineering expo thing." Percy nodded at Peter's antics, excited to meet his friend but not excited because he  _ didn't talk. _ "Though it would be hard to explain to him how we met and why you live in Stark Tower... I'll come up with something! Are you here to train?"

Percy pointed towards the training room behind him where he had battles the robot thing.

"Oh cool! I haven't used that yet, but usually when I'm here I'm doing science and not Spiderman stuff. What now then?"

Percy shrugged. Maybe he'd swim some laps. Maybe go for a run. He wanted to get more energy out before he had to go to his first therapy session that night. His body was aching to exercise more and push himself more but he felt stuck, like there wasn't much he could do in this room. He wanted to be climbing trees and fighting with other kids and playing war games. He missed his friends already. 

Peter noticed Percy's bright demeanor slowly draining and didn't know why. Maybe he'd said something? He didn't think so... When he came out of his thoughts, Percy was scribbling away again on his white board. It took a minute but when he finished he showed Peter: 'I'm used to training with and being with people all the time. Also outdoors. I'm stuck here and alone.' Peter frowned at the thought. Was Percy allowed to leave the tower? He wasn't sure, honestly. 

"Annabeth said it would be hard to leave camp but she would try to visit. And your mom will definitely come by. And I'll be here. And Bucky absolutely adores you. But I know it's not the same. We will just have to figure something out, won't we," Peter smiled up at Percy who nodded but still looked rather unconvinced.

It was then that Peter's phone buzzed twice in quick succession.

"What that?" He pulled it out and looked at his messages. "Oh no. I forgot I was supposed to be working on my science expo project with Ned." Peter looked up at Percy with frantic eyes. "He is going to  _ kill  _ me," he looked down as his phone buzzed. "Oh come on. Mister Stark knows I'm going to the expo with my class and building something so he just INVITED NED OVER." Peter let out a loud groan and threw his hands up, much to Percy's surprise and confusion.

He wrote: 'Is that a bad thing?'

"Yes! Ned can't keep a secret to save his life! He's going to tell the  _ Avengers _ all of my embarrassing nerdy secrets! Terrible!" He shook his head as Percy tried not to laugh. "And it means no weight lifting. Tragic," he sighed and Percy started meticulously writing more words. So slowly.

'Weren't you going to tell him about the lifting anyway? Just have him come here.'

"Pffft," he scoffed. "I can't just invite Ned into the Avengers personal training room. They'd all kill me. Mister Stark wouldn't be happy, I'd be uncomfortable. It would be a mess," he sighed as an absolutely shit-eating grin erupted on Percy's face, like he knew something embarrassing was about to happen. What could he even- Peter's thoughts were cut short as Percy slowly pointed one hand behind him, towards the door. Peter turned with trepidation and -  _ oh god _ . Mister Stark was walking into the room in one of his fancy three piece suits with an excitedly chattering Ned behind him.

Percy watched with glee as a blush spread from the collar of Peter's shirt all the way to his hairline. The boy in question, steadily getting pinker, turned back to Percy and whispered: "This is horrible. Stop enjoying my dismay," to which Percy winked and gave him finger guns.

"Peter! This is so cool! This is the best day ever!" Ned exclaimed as he approached. "I saw  _ The Winter Soldier  _ as I came in! Crazy!"

"Ned! I am so sorry I forgot!" Peter looked genuinely sorry.

"You're lucky I care about your science projects and called Ned over to work on it with you. However," Tony glanced down at Ned with one eyebrow raised, "he insisted on me finding you immediately instead of waiting in the lab."

"Uh, yes sorry about that Mister Stark. Peter and I just have a bet going on," Ned spoke nervously and Percy simply observed as Peter legitimately face-palmed himself. In real life. 

It looked like Ned hadn't noticed him yet, so he just kept watching.

"Ned," Peter whisper-shouted. "Stop."

"Oh, uh, nevermind. No bets here. At all," Ned smiled brightly at Tony, who looked unimpressed. Apparently Tony's disappointed parent stare was enough for Ned to cave. "I bet Peter he could lift the Avengers jet thing and he said that was a terrible idea because he would get in trouble but also because he would probably break his arms." The words all tumbled out of Ned's mouth and Percy couldn't help it. He really couldn't. If one could silently laugh so hard they were wheezing, that was what Percy was doing. He was bent at the waist trying to contain the breathy laughter escaping him, and failing to do so.

"Perseus. What is so funny?" Tony asked him with a raised eyebrow as Percy composed himself and wiped tears from his eyes, still smiling widely.

He tried to frown to control the last of the bubbles as he wrote his comment down but it wasn't working very well.

'The only reason peter won't bench press the quinjet is because he's scared you'll yell at him.'

"Why is that funny?" Tony asked tightly. Percy scribbled some more.

'Because you're a huge softie.'

Tony turned red and a nervous giggle escaped Ned. 

"You're on thin ice, kid," he squinted at Percy. Apparently he didn't like having his soft side outed. "You two," he pointed at Ned and Peter, "labs. ASAP. And, Percy?" Percy smacked his heels together and put his hands at his sides, imitating a soldier standing at attention. Tony rolled his eyes "God you're such a snarky punk for someone who doesn't talk. Just... Don't mess up their experiment," he shook his head and Percy saluted him with a smirk. "I hate that I'm starting to like you. It's disturbing." With that, he walked out, leaving the three teens in the room watching after him.

"Anyway. I'm Ned, the guy in the chair behind all of Peter's cool adventures. Best friend extraordinaire. Who are you? Are you a teen Avenger? What's with the sword?" Percy looked down at the sword, he'd forgotten it was in his hand.

"Oh, Ned this is Percy. Percy this is Ned. He just introduced himself, sorry," Peter scratched the back of his head. "Percy is..." He was drawing a blank and time stretched on, so Percy decided to start writing.

'It's a secret,' he winked as he showed it to Ned, who at first looked suspicious, then curious, and his face settled on excitement for some reason.

"That's so cool. Secret identity! Peter has one of those!" He slapped his hand over his mouth and Peter put his face in his hands.

"Ned you are so lucky he already knows."

"Wait you told him and you didn't tell me?" Ned looked a little betrayed and Percy shook his head vehemently.

"No, I didn't. Mister Thor did. It was an accident," Peter sighed dramatically. "We should go to the labs now, Percy you're welcome to come if you're done training."

Percy mulled it over. His ADHD would probably become a problem pretty early on but he also wanted to spend more time with Peter and meet his friend. But they would also be working so it's not like he could socialize with them. Not that he did much socializing anyway. 

'Maybe later,' he wrote, 'I want to go swimming.'

"There's a pool here, too?" Ned gasped. "No. Way."

"Come on, Ned. To the labs. Seeya, Percy!" He waved as he ushered his unwilling friend out of the training room. 

And then it was one. Percy was alone with his thoughts again.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Darcy!

Percy found himself sitting at the bottom of the pool. Being here at the tower was nice but he was lonely and he felt trapped. He sighed and laid down on his back, staring up at the surface of the water as it swayed and shimmered so far above him.

It was only day one and he felt this way already. How would he survive being here for... Well ... Indefinitely, he guessed. They would keep him here until he could control his powers. 

He rolled his eyes. They didn't understand. It felt like the wild, untamed ocean was trying to break out of him half the time and he was scrambling to keep it at bay. He would build walls and force it back, but he feared the day when it broke through. 

He liked being alone under the water but he realized it was very different to be  _ lonely _ than to be alone. And he felt lonely. He liked talking with Peter. He sort of wished he could flirt with him, but besides not talking, he was never good at flirting. But Peter didn't know everything and couldn't really understand him like his friends did.

He sighed, thinking of his friends. Thinking of Annabeth. He had scared her. Truly. He didn't know if their friendship would truly recover. And Jason, he remembered the way Jason had looked at him when they'd taken him to medical. He'd never look at Percy the same. Nor would any of his friends, really. They'd seen the hero of Olympus beaten down, broken, and half-wild with fear and rage. Nothing would ever be the same. 

He curled in on himself, wrapping his arms around his legs and pressing his eyes hard against his knees to stop the tears from coming. Nothing had been the same since they'd fallen into... Into Tartarus.

Percy let out a sob when he even so much as  _ thought _ it's name. Before he knew it he was gasping in water like it was air and sobbing into it so loudly he could hear himself through the water. 

Tartarus had wrecked  _ everything _ for Percy. All of his relationships were tainted. He barely slept and when he did it was haunted with night terrors that were even worse than actual prophetic demigod dreams. He couldn't speak because he was afraid of the things that might come tumbling out of his mouth. He was afraid of his own powers after Akhlys. His mother had lost him  _ again _ . He actually  _ scared _ people just by being in the room with them. He was afraid he was losing his mind. 

How would he explain all of that to a therapist? He let out another wail at the thought of ever voicing the thoughts that danced about in his head. How he resented Annabeth for being afraid of him. How angry he was at his mother for having a child with a god. How angry he was at the gods for making him fight and toying with him over and over again. How he regretted not killing Akhlys when he had the chance. He knew he had more power than he was currently utilizing and he wanted to explore it but he  _ knew _ he only used his powers and pushed them to the limit. How despite never wanting to be a demigod and hating the fighting he felt lost here at Stark Tower without a cause. He almost wished for a war so he could be useful again. 

When he was so tired from sobbing that he finally stopped, he let himself float to the surface, though he kept only his eyes above water as he saw Sam Wilson flicking through a magazine in a beach chair next to where Percy left his towel earlier.

"I know you're there," he commented, but didn't look away from his magazine. "You're late to counseling," at this, he lowered his magazine just enough for Percy to see his eyes. "We were going to give you a different counselor, but since I'm the only one who knows about your particularly secretive predicament, I feel like I am probably the best choice." 

Percy nodded silently at the man and slowly emerged from the pool, clothes soaking wet and clinging to him. For a moment he simply stood there and stared at Sam through the jet black hair hanging in his eyes, but he felt he had been dramatic enough and willed himself completely dry. 

"Neat trick. Anything else you can do with water?" 

Percy unsheathed Riptide and was quick to slice his palm open with it, much to Sam's shock and dismay.

"What-" he started, but paused as Percy used his powers to coax a stream of water through the air to encase his palm, quickly healing the cut and washing away the blood. 

"You are so dramatic. Why does everyone around me like giving me heart attacks?" Sam asked rhetorically, but Percy shrugged anyway.

"Why were you in the pool fully clothed?" He asked Percy. He wasn't totally expecting an answer, but Percy's flinch sparked his interest. So did Percy looking away from him and down at his feet. The teen shifted from one foot to the other before biting his lip and staring into Sam's eyes like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. 

Percy didn't have his whiteboard on him, but he rolled one of his sleeves up to the elbow (he had invested in  _ a lot _ of long sleeve shirts after Tartarus) and turned his arm in the dark, the fading sunlight glinting off of the dozens of scars littering just his forearm. Some were from camp. Some were from Smelly Gabe. But the bigger, ragged ones that were raised and shiny, those were from Tartarus. They hadn't gotten the nectar and ambrosia in time. He roughly shoved his sleeve back down and shrugged, rubbing at his arm self-consciously.

"Got it," Sam nodded. Percy knew that Sam probably understood, he was a soldier and probably had scars, too. That's why he felt comfortable enough showing his arm. The scars on his torso and back were worse. He hated it. The scars from camp were sort of like good memories. The ones from the wars were battle scars. The ones from Tartarus just felt like defeat. 

"I won't bother you, you look like you've had a helluva night. Find me tomorrow though, okay?" Percy agreed with a nod as the older man left him by himself. 

Alone again.

___________

"As his counselor, I legally cannot tell you what we talked about unless he becomes a danger to himself or others," Sam was having this argument with Tony again, this time though, he had Steve and Bucky on his side. 

"And as his current caretaker, I insist you tell me," Tony countered.

"He doesn't even talk," was Sam's deadpan response. He crossed his arms. "I did come here to give you information, just not that information."

Tony stiffened. "Go on, then."

Sam sighed deeply, he was an  _ adult _ counselor for a reason. He could connect with messed up vets, but he was struggling to understand even a fraction of what this  _ kid _ had gone through.

"I think he's worse off than he seems," he frowned at all three confused faces. "You've all seen him. He's a perfect happy-go lucky guy who just occasionally has sad moments. It's pretty impressive. But when I went looking for him earlier he was just sitting at the bottom of the pool. For ten minutes. And then he just started screaming." Sam stared them down. "He needs rehabilitation in counseling but he also needs a good environment outside of counseling."

"And what do you suppose we do?" Steve asked. If the kid was worse off than they thought, he was even more concerned about an outburst and what his powers would do. 

"It's his first night here. Invite him to dinner. I know Darcy is making lasagna," Sam shrugged. "He has a home and a home away from home and we took both of those, and all of his social connections, away from him. The least we can do is offer him socialization and a welcoming atmosphere."

"I think it's a great idea. If I had Darcy's cooking when I first got here, I'm positive I would have been a  _ way _ more approachable person," Bucky laughed at himself and it made Steve smile. Bucky had come so far since they'd first arrived. It was like having his best friend back.

"JARVIS," Tony called out. "Let Percy know he's invited to and expected at dinner tonight in the communal kitchen," he looked thoughtful for a moment. "Are Peter and Ned still in the labs?"

"Affirmative, sir," came the british voice.

"Invite them too. And tell Darcy she's cooking for-" he counted his fingers "Tell her she's cooking for twelve."

"Miss Lewis would like for me to inform you that she's always ready to serve a small army and accepts your challenge," JARVIS responded moments later.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry

Percy was, for lack of better words, a mess when it came to clothing. He finally gave up on trying to look nice and threw on a pair of jeans, and a camp Half-Blood t-shirt that he wore over a long sleeve black workout shirt. At least, he thought it was a workout shirt. It was that weird thick spandex-ey material. He shrugged. They all knew he was a demigod anyway and wearing his camo shirt sort of felt like he had something from home with him.

He absent-mindedly played with the beads on his camp necklace as he approached the kitchen. It occurred to him the  _ very moment he entered the kitchen  _ that JARVIS told him "Darcy" was making dinner. He didn't know her and she didn't know he was a demigod. He looked wide eyes down at his shirt before taking a calming breath. It was too late to go back. He could play it off as some kind of Harry Potter joke or some other vague pop culture reference. 

"You must be Percy!" He lifted his head to see a woman a little bit older than him coming towards him with a large smile on red-painted lips. "I'm Darcy, everyone's favorite scientist-wrangler, DJ, and pop culture specialist. Nice to meet you!" She shook his hand and pulled him into the kitchen before he could even think to respond. There was a huge table that hadn't been there before absolutely covered in plates, cups, giant pans full of lasagna, and garlic bread. It smelled sort of like when his mom made blue pizza at home and he smiled at the thought. He missed having blue food. 

"You can sit here," she ushered him into the seat next to Bucky, who was excitedly chattering with Steve but paused to greet Percy. "Peter and Ned will be on their way soon, so they can sit next to you." Oh, Peter would be coming. Percy didn't know if he was excited or not. He liked being around Peter but he was feeling particularly self-pitying after his meltdown in the pool. And having shown Sam his scars. And then having to look at said scars when he changed clothes. He sighed. 

"Hey, Percy!" Peter smiled when he came into the room.

"Nice to see you again," Ned said to him before looking around wide-eyed at the assortment of superheroes at the table. "Whoa. Dope."

Percy was trying to focus on something but there were so many conversations going on. He didn't want to be unappreciative, especially after being sad about being lonely, but this was a lot. Things settled down a bit when Darcy officially sat down and everyone started gobbling food down like they were starving, but Percy looked nervously down at his food. He didn't want to be a weirdo but... He looked around but realized he didn't have his white board on him.  _ Fuck. _ He was honestly just about to leave and skip dinner from frustration when Peter tapped on his shoulder and offered him his phone open to the notes app. He must have figured it out. Percy took the phone gratefully and smiled at Peter, hoping to convey his gratitude.

He looked down and started slowly typing out his message: 'this is super weird but demigods do this thing where we throw a portion of our food into a fire as an offering to the gods, and it's supposed to keep them appeased so they don't mess up our lives. I used to not care but considering how messed up my life is right now i think I'd better start respecting tradition.'

He poked Bucky in the shoulder and handed him the phone with an awkward shrug and a grimace. Luckily, the man didn't make a big fuss out of it, simply nodding at him, handing Peter's phone back to him, and standing, urging Percy to take his plate with him. Bucky grabbed his place too, but Percy thought it was so that the others didn't think Percy was being a weirdo. He appreciated it. 

Bucky led him to a living room with a massive, already burning fireplace (who would leave a fire burning unattended? Seriously.)

"Will this do?" Bucky asked and nodded to the fireplace. Percy nodded and smiled at him before going over to the fire and forking the cheesiest piece of lasagna and the crispiest piece of garlic bread into the fire. Bucky watched as the food  _ literally  _ disappeared. 

Percy knelt by the fire for a moment with his food in his hands, and said the words in his head, hoping the recipient would hear him.

_ Uncle Hades, I uh... I know we don't have the best relationship. But I could really use a little help here. I keep having dreams that I'm still in Tartarus and I'm afraid that being there left some kind of stain on my soul or something. I feel like I can't get rid of it. I don't know what to do anymore.  _

Percy sighed. Next.

_ Dad. I don't appreciate that you've gone silent. Especially right after I got out of Tartarus. Not cool. Fuck you. _

Percy very slowly inhaled and exhaled before standing up and turning back to Bucky with a smile and a thumbs up. 

They returned to the table with little to no fuss (Percy internally thanked Bucky for giving Tony a death glare when he asked what that was about). Though what happened next was less than pleasant.

The door to the kitchen burst open to reveal a bearded man in board shorts and a hawaiian t-shirt standing there with thick arms crossed over his chest.

"JARVIS?" Tony was standing a moment later.

"I'm sorry, Sir. He materialized outside the door." 

Percy put his elbows on the table and hid his face in his hands.

"Son."

________

Okay so maybe dropping the F-bomb on his dad was not a great idea but he did not expect  _ this. _

"Perseus Achilles Jackson," came the booming voice and Percy could only groan. "Named after two of the most heroic demigods in history. And  _ this  _ is how you act? I'm shocked. Shocked and disgusted," his father didn't move from the doorway, but he didn't have to. Percy was embarrassed enough.

"Uh, I'm going to assume you're Percy's dad. But you have got to chill," Clint tried to diffuse the situation but it went  _ horribly wrong. _

"Chill? You want me to CHILL?" He took several heavy steps towards the table and glared down at the archer. 

Percy just... Gave up at that point. He rested his forehead on the table and closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down before he hurt anybody. 

"You will look at me when I am speaking to you, Perseus!" Poseidon growled from the head of the table. Percy, being the dramatic boy that he was, slammed his face into the table once, twice, three times. 

"Uh, you good, kiddo?" Bucky asked from next to him. Percy was digging his nails into his palms so hard he knew he'd drawn blood. 

_ Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. _

Percy looked up and slowly turned his head to face his father. He held his gaze as fury enveloped him. Percy clenched his fists harder, the pain from his fingernails digging into his flesh was the only thing keeping him grounded.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" Tony laughed at Poseidon's question.

"Your son, eh? When was the last time you saw him? I'm guessing at least weeks if you're asking him that question," was Tony... Defending him? "Your  _ son _ ," he spit the word out like it was acid, "hasn't spoken a word in  _ weeks _ . Did you know that? And you come here, into  _ my house _ where I have offered your son a safe space? And to what end? Why are you here big guy?" Tony was standing at that point, full of contempt. 

"Do not dare to speak to me in this manner, mortal," Poseidon growled. But after a moment, his stance dropped and he seemed like Percy's dad again, not this righteously angry god persona he was putting on. "Percy?"

But Percy was still filled to the brim with rage and he only stared daggers at Poseidon. Percy released his fingers and slowly stood, wiping his bloodied hands on his shirt before slowly breathing in and out again. He walked towards the opposite side of the room, staring at his own reflection in the shiny silver fridge. 

"Get out." His voice was thin. Quiet. Raspy. He hadn't used it in so long. 

"Excuse me?" Was his father's reply. "I'm sorry, Perseus, I don't think I heard you correctly."

Percy turned slowly, and everyone froze.

The dark circles that were a permanent fixture under his eyes were completely gone. His hair shone under the flourescent lighting. His sea green eyes pierced the room. His sun-kissed skin practically glowed. He looked, to the others, like some sort of vengeful god, otherworldly and powerful.

Percy pulled himself up to his full height as he unconsciously drew power from the water molecules in the air.

"Get. Out." He spat the words through clenched teeth. 

"Excuse me?" His father stormed towards him and Percy couldn't hold back his own rage anymore. 

" _ GET OUT!"  _ He screamed as he flung his hand out and felt his powers flow through him. He felt the golden ichor within his father's veins, the water within it. He drew back and thrust both hands forward with a scream as his powers clenched and released, throwing his father back into the wall. He growled and began stalking towards his father, unsheathing Riptide in the process.

__________

Ned was  _ bugging out _ . First, he gets invited to work with Peter in Stark Tower laboratories? Next, he was invited to an Avengers family dinner? AND NOW THERE WAS A SUPERHERO FIGHT HAPPENING IN FRONT OF HIS VERY EYES. He had to be honest with himself. Peter' super enhanced Spiderman abs? Super dope. But seeing his new friend Percy turn around like that looking like an  _ actual god _ . It was crazy. Can we say glow-up? It was like seeing Thor, all perfect and muscley and righteous. 

Percy reached into his pocket and pulled out a - HOLY MOLY HIS PEN TURNS INTO A SWORD. Oh man oh man. Ned's leg was bouncing excitedly as he watched as... Oh. Oh no. Percy was advancing on his father (who was slowly standing up, looking shaken) with a sword in his hand. Bad stuff, bad stuff. This was no good. 

Especially since Percy was apparently  _ mute _ and was now  _ screaming incoherently as he slashed his sword at his father.  _ Oh God, Ned was gonna die of excitement but also of terror. But everything would be okay. Peter was Percy's friend, and Ned was Peter's friend, so Percy and Ned were friends by association. 

"Son of Poseidon!" A heavy voice silenced the room and made Percy pause mid-swing. He was panting and sort of... Glowing. Ned turned, wide eyed, and watched Thor walk through the kitchen with stormy eyes and hammer raised.

"What did we say about weapons in the kitchen, guys?" Tony sighed, trying to diffuse the tension, but Ned could  _ tell _ things were about to get rough.

"Thor," Poseidon spat from his place on the ground, still weary of Percy's blade. Wait. Did he just. Is this guy just randomly named Poseidon?  _ Please please pleeeaase be a super cool god!  _ Ned thought to himself.

"We have matters to discuss, Poseidon," the god growled and pushed the quickly paling Percy to the side, who staggered back and clutched at his chest as he gasped. 

Thor grasped Poseidon by the front of his hawaiian shirt and  _ slammed  _ his hammer into his jaw.

"Holy shit!" Darcy shouted. "Everybody out. The gods are having a tussle," the young woman was pulling Avengers out of their chairs by their shirt collars and hustling them out of the room. "Let's go nerds, come on," she beckoned to him and Peter with her hand, but Peter flung himself across the room to grab Percy by his bloody hand and dragged the taller boy out of the kitchen, right behind Ned and Darcy. He heard crashing and thumping noises behind him as he hurried into the Avengers living room. Oh man this was  _ so cool. _

_______

Percy was gasping, his throat ached. To be honest, his whole body ached. He hadn't used his powers in so long that using them so forcefully drained him. Peter had pulled him into the living room with the others but he couldn't see them through the black haze still coloring his vision, he couldn't breathe. Everything was too loud! Too loud! He groaned and slammed the heel of his palm into his forehead thrice, trying to clear his head. Something was wrong! Everything was wrong! He felt lethargic but so dark and angry. Confusion and rage were swirling through him and he shook his head trying to clear it.  _ Stop it _ he thought to himself.  _ Pull it together _ . 

He didn't even notice the new addition to the room.

"You were correct, nephew," a smooth voice came from the center of the room and Percy squinted through his hazy vision to see a figure cloaked in black. "Tartarus has left a... Stain... On your soul," Hades came into focus. 

"I can draw the darkness out," the god of death spoke as he circled the demigod. "But it will take time. And it will cost you," he grasped Percy's forearms and stared him down as he towered over him. "Do you accept this?" Percy, unable to speak through his lethargy and pain, nodded.

"So be it," his uncle whispered and shoved Percy against the wall, holding him up with one hand and magically drawing out an inky black substance out of his chest with the other. It was only moments, but the god stopped, letting Percy fall to the floor, and staggering back himself, powers drained as he disappeared into the shadows to recover. It would take many sessions to fully heal Percy. 

_____________

"What is  _ happening _ ?" Clint hissed at his comrades. "Who the hell was Tall, Dark, and Terrifying? Are we going to acknowledge the godly fight in our kitchen? Is anybody going to help him up?" He pointed at Percy, who was sitting up against the wall, looking dazed and pale.

Peter and Ned were crouched next to Percy, trying to get him back to awareness. 

"Percy, what's going on?" Peter whispered. He was worried. Peter was  _ very _ worried. He was afraid Percy might never speak again after that debacle. Percy blinked, seemingly returning to them, and locked eyes with Peter. 

Peter was a little ashamed to say he got lost in those deep ocean eyes. He usually wouldn't be, but he felt bad because he was so lost in them he didn't even notice them filling with shiny tears.

"I'm taking Percy to his suite," Peter called to the group and swiftly picked the larger boy up bridal style and nodded at Ned for him to follow. When they reached the elevator, Peter pressed the "1" button and turned to Ned.

"You have to go home, some bad stuff is going down. We'll meet to work on the project tomorrow, okay?" Peter asked.

"Aw man things were getting so cool! You have to tell me  _ everything." _ Peter smiled and fist bumped his friend before seeing him off the elevator and taking Percy up to his own suite. 

He ended up gently sitting Percy down on the plush blue couch and sitting right next to the other boy, holding his shaking hand in both of his own. 

"Percy?" Peter whispered, not wanting to startle him. "Are you okay?" Peter watched sadly as Percy clenched his jaw and looked away. He even saw the tears in his eyes turn to mist and evaporate so they wouldn't fall. "Because it's okay to not be okay," he squeezed Percy's hand. 

Percy sniffed and abruptly turned his head and dug it into the crook of Peter's neck, hunching over as hot tears fell from his eyes and soaked Peter's shirt. The smaller boy was quick to wrap his arms around Percy and squeezed him as the demigod weeped.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I legit write this at work on my phone when I'm bored so I apologize for editing mistakes.

Percy was  _ shook _ . He scrambled to write a hasty apology to Peter on his white board, but the boy was quick to reassure him that some crazy shit just happened and he didn't need to apologize for getting emotional. Percy's shoulders relaxed and he exhaled loudly before dropping his head forward onto Peter's shoulder, the entire ordeal was tiring and then Hades had sucked some of Tartarus out of him and he was just absolutely exhausted.

He sat there a moment and listened to Peter talk a little bit about Ned, how they met and how they loved Star Wars and did all kinds of nerdy stuff together.

Percy raised his head and looked at Peter questioningly when he mentioned the girl who sat at the end of their lunch table and insulted them.

"She's not doing it in a mean way," Peter was quick to reassure him. "Michelle is just weird," he shrugged and Percy filed the name away, trying to remember all of the details about Peter's life.

Peter sighed, then, and Percy looked down at their hands, his own still held in both of Peter's.

"It's getting late, I should go before Aunt May gets worried. Will you be okay?" Percy drew his hand back and stood, nodding and helping his friend up. "I probably won't be back until the expo, but feel free to have JARVIS contact me if you need anything or if you just want to hang out," Percy nodded at Peter's kind comments and ushered him out, finally having time to himself. 

He was sort of glad Thor showed up when he did for a few reasons. First, he was totally going to impale his dad with Riptide and he did  _ not _ want to do that. Second, he really didn't want to talk to his dad right now so he was glad he was occupied. Even if it meant he was getting the shit beaten out of him for some reason.

Percy ended up turning in early, but despite his new bed being  _ super _ comfy, he woke up four hours later covered in sweat and panting. He couldn't hear past the memories of voices in his head, the sounds of battle, and the rushing of blood in his ears. 

He started singing to drown it out. He sang softly at first, getting used to stretching his vocal chords. Annie had told him he likely had some sort of siren powers he didn't know about yet because she thought his singing voice was so beautiful. He wasn't one to turn into a Disney princess and sing at every occasion, but it did help quiet the voices in his head. He ran through several lullabies and soft songs he knew before yawning and curling back up in bed, at peace for the moment.

It didn't last.

Percy was up again at - he squinted at the clock - three in the morning. He sighed, exasperated, ans changed into sweatpants and a long sleeve t-shirt to head to the training room. Maybe if he tired himself out, his overactive brain wouldn't haunt him with that...  _ Voice _ . His voice. Tartarus. 

Percy shuddered. Time to stop thinking and start beating the shit out of a robot. 

He trained with the sword again, too tired to try anything new, and fought level six for a while, not letting it win, but also not pushing himself to beat it. He wasn't there to win, he was there to push himself to exhaustion. He god bored pretty quickly, his hyperactive brain wanting something different from the monotonous stab, party, block sequence he had going on, so he slashed out and beheaded the robot before leaving the room. 

What next? Percy looked around and spotted a punching bag. That would do. 

He worked his energy out on that for a while, dulling his racing thoughts with the repetitive motion. 

He got bored.

Time to run on the treadmill. There, he really pushed himself, trying to tire out his muscles as well as his mind.

It was at six in the morning that he realized he wasn't alone. He heard the telltale thumps of someone absolutely  _ ravishing _ the punching bag. 

Peter's curiosity got the best of him and he traded in the treadmill for the training room again, looking around the corner as he passed to see... Steve Rogers pummeling his way through the morning. 

Percy shrugged, and this time perused the other weapons available. He was terrible with a bow so he quickly disregarded that. He was curious... He side eyed the trident. Yeah. He was gonna do that.

He grasped it in his hand and set the training room to level five. He wasn't as skilled in wielding a trident as he was a sword, but he was decent at it.

He took his fighting stance. 

Three.

Two. 

One.


	15. Chapter 15

"How long has he been there?" Natasha was way too awake for seven thirty in the morning, Tony thought.

"Who, Rogers? He's been there since six. Like nearly every day," he rolled his eyes.

"I mean Jackson."

"Oh," he should have expected that. "JARVIS?"

"Mister Jackson has been training since three fourteen this morning," the disembodied voice replied.

"Oh boy," Tony ran his hand down his face. He'd decided to meet with Natasha and Clint. The two were probably beat equipped to keep an eye on Percy without him noticing and getting freaked out.

"We've all been there. Leave him be for now," Clint shrugged one shoulder and sharpened an arrow from his spot sprawled across a chair. "If he goes past like... Ten... I think we should stop him."

"That seems extreme. Who even? What are you people? Are you even made of real people muscles or are you androids?" Tony raised an eyebrow at his comrades who both answered him with shrugs. "I mean I know he's made of super person muscle, but he can't possibly work out for seven hours."

He could. 

Steve left at eight for his morning run, and Percy moved back to the treadmill. He was getting frustrated. He wasn't tiring out. His body was thriving on the adrenaline and he felt better than ever. But his mind was swirling with the voice in his dreams and memories of fighting his way to the doors of death.

He wanted nothing more to hit something so he switched to the punching bag again, this time not wrapping his hands. 

He was so distracted with his own frustration he didn't even notice that all the exercise and movement made him feel lighter. The weight on his chest had lessened. When he paused and rubbed his knuckles he felt... He felt okay. Maybe a little bit more like himself. Yesterday had taken a huge toll on him and he needed a little normalcy after all of it even if it meant working out for - he searched for w clock - nine hours. It was almost like being at camp again. He smiled to himself, he knew what would make it even better.

He brought swim shorts and sneakily changed in the locker room, avoiding mirrors and checking that there was nobody there or in the pool. He cannonballed into the pool and as soon as the water touched his skin he felt rejuvenated, brighter, lighter.

He lost count of how many laps he swam, but he felt so  _ alive. _

He paused to catch a breath, but a voice caught him off guard, causing him to hide to the neck in the water.

"Do you eat any meals? It's lunch time and you look like you're not ready to stop," Clint called from the doorway and Percy couldn't help but smile brightly and shrug from under the water. "Fair enough. JARVIS ordered everyone's favorites for lunch and it's waiting in the labs. I don't know why or how, but you have blue pizza."

Percy gasped and threw himself out of the pool, not bothering to dry himself before wrapping himself in a towel and rushing to his room to change. Unconsciously flashing his scarred and battered body in the process.

Clint sagged when Percy was gone and sighed to himself.

"Kids these days. They're killing me."

__________

Percy's next three days were... Relatively the same. He hadn't sought out Sam, but he encountered him occasionally and tried to answer some of his questions. He woke up before dawn and worked out until lunch. He saw Steve every morning but hadn't spoken to him. He had a feeling the man didn't like him. 

However. Today would be Stark's mini expo thing. Peter and his class would be here at nine in the morning to present their ideas and projects.

Percy sighed from bed. He hadn't seen Peter since that mess of a dinner. He sort of regretted not reaching out but he didn't want Peter to think he was weak. He probably already thought that but whatever. Percy wouldn't encourage it.

He sighed as he looked at the clock. Four thirty. Better than yesterday.

He found himself training with his sword again in the nanotech room. He didn't know how long he was there that day, only that suddenly the nanotech dissolved into the ground, and Percy turned to see Steve opening the door.

"It's eight thirty. I just wanted to warn you. The lobby will have about six schools worth of students but Tony is taking the top 5 kids from Peter's class for an 'exclusive'" he used air quotes "tour of the Avengers facilities. So... You might not be alone for very long," Percy smiled and nodded, appreciative for the warning. He figured he had about a half hour before anybody came in here.


	16. Chapter 16

He lost track of time.

He tried this cool spinning kick thing he'd seen Natasha do a few days ago where he used all of the momentum from the spin to kick out and knock the bot in the head, making it stumble and allowing for Percy to behead it. It was the first time he'd beaten level seven. He was ready to go again but the bot didn't reform itself. He turned to the control panel but what he saw was an irritated Tony Stark and five gawking teenagers.

Tony jerked his head towards the door and Percy followed his direction, coming out of the room and putting his sword back on the wall.

"Didn't Steve ask you to wrap it up wonder boy?" Tony asked, looking casual but sounding a bit off kilter.

Percy drew his eyebrows in and frowned, shaking his head. No, he'd just told him he wouldn't be alone. Was he supposed to take that as his cue to leave? Whoops.

"So you  _ do _ know how to use the sword?" Ned gasped and Percy grinned crookedly at him, shrugging in (what he hoped was) a humble way. "Dope!"

"Hi Percy," Peter greeted him with a smile. He and Ned were the only ones Percy recognized. There was another boy and two girls with them. 

"Are you an Avenger? Like a secret Avenger in training?" The other boy asked skeptically. Percy shook his head with a nervous huff of laughter.

"Eugene, Michelle, Gwen, this is Percy Jackson. He's our resident swordsman," Tony introduced him. "Percy, you already know Peter and Ned."

"Wait your name is Eugene?" Ned asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah and if you ever call me that you'll regret it," the boy threatened and Percy winced. But he put on his best winning smile and shook hands when he introduced himself. "I'm Flash. Nice to meet you."

The blonde girl shoved her way in between Tony and Flash and held out her hand, which Percy shook next.

"Gwen Stacy. How did you learn to swordfight? Why are you in Avengers Tower? Do you live around here?" Percy backed up after shaking and turned to the final girl.

"Michelle. Sup." She nodded at him but kept both arms wrapped around her notebook. His smile widened, this was Peter's friend Michelle! The weird one! He loved it! 

Percy nodded back at her and turned to face Tony again with a questioning look on his face.

"I'm pretty sure Percy took a vow of silence. He's very cool and secretive," Ned whispered rather loudly to the group and Tony face-palmed. 

"He is not cool. Stop that," Tony scolded him. "I was just giving Peter's class a tour of the Avengers floors and you were supposed to be gone. But you're not. So that's that, let's move on children," Tony turned on his heel and beckoned to the other teens.

"See you later?" Peter asked. "You should come to the expo." Percy looked to Tony, sort of asking permission but mostly gauging how mad he would be if Percy did go.

"No." Was his response. That settled it. He was definitely going. Percy had a problem with authority figures. He nodded enthusiastically Peter and waved as he hurried to follow his friends out of the room.

Now, what would he do until then? He didn't have enough time to go for his daily swim, but he did need to shower and change if he wanted to go to the expo. He knew absolutely nothing about what an expo was or what kinds of things would be there or even who would be there. But he liked hanging out with Peter so he would make an appearance to support him. 

Percy ended up changing into jeans and a plain blue long sleeve t-shirt, hurrying out of his bathroom and wondering if he should cover up his mirrors. His great mood dulled when he had to look at himself naked after showering. He was still strong and tan and tall and good looking and he knew all of those things, but he couldn't handle the scars. 

He took an extra fifteen minutes to duct tape his spare sheets to the top of all of the mirrors in the bathroom and the one next to his dresser. He smiled with satisfaction. Now he wouldn't have to deal with that when he came back.

_________

Percy was lurking. And he knew it. Everyone here was a genius and he could barely  _ read _ . He didn't belong here. He bit his lip and eyed the elevator across the room. Maybe he could make a break for it. He was about to act on his thoughts when he saw her.

A harpy. Staring in through the window at him from outside. Oh man he was dead. There were so many kids here. How could he take this elsewhere?

"Percy?" He whipped around at Peter's voice. He was also walking towards Percy with a smile and a wave. "You came!"

Percy nodded and opened his mouth to explain that there was a monster to fight, but he snapped his mouth shut and bit his lip.

"What's up?" Peter asked lowly. Percy tried to nonchalantly point towards the harpy. "That is an old lady. Do you know her?"

Percy bit his lip harder and shook his head, trying not to panic. He pulled the pen out of his pocket and waved it in front of Peter's face.

"A monster?" He asked uncertainly, eyeing up the harpy through the mist. Percy nodded grimly. "But there are so many people here... What are you going to do?"

Percy scribbled on his white board as the harpy took flight and started making towards the glass. He shoved the message into Peter's hands and took off towards the door, luring her away from the building.

'You have to explain to Tony that I'm not beating up an old lady.'

Percy was running through the streets and lured the harpy to the first alleyway he could find, turning on his heel and wielding Riptide. 

_ Come and get me _ , he thought to himself. 

"Son of Poseidon. Your body will BURN IN TARTARUS FOR ETERNITY," she shrieked and flew towards him, and he narrowly avoided her talons. He slashed at her with Riptide but she threw herself out of his reach. Percy advanced on her, and  _ man _ did he need to work on his reflexes because she caught him in the ribs, slicing right through his flesh. With his energy draining, Percy threw Riptide at her and turned her into dust, allowing him to sag against the wall behind him. 

He could really go for some nectar and ambrosia right then, he thought as he stumbled back towards Stark Tower, vision a little hazy and feeling quite lightheaded. 

JARVIS let him in through the employee entrance and Percy practically fell into the elevator. 

"Um. Do you need assistance?" Doctor Banner was exiting the employee elevator and presumably heading towards the science expo. Percy waved him off and sat on the floor, waiting for the doors to close so he could get to the pool. 

"Are you sure because-" the door closed. Hopefully he wouldn't run into anyone else on his way up.

Apparently the Avengers often took the service elevator because he was stopped again. He couldn't imagine how bad he looked sitting in the corner of the elevator, propped up on the walls and leaking blood all over the floor.

"Oh man," Clint sighed. "Nobody is in med bay right now. Everyone is at the expo."

Percy sighed and forced himself to stand and slammed his hand on the floor for the pool, widening his eyes at Clint so he would just  _ trust him. _

"Do you... Want to go swimming?" He stepped into the elevator and watched Percy wearily, gauging whether he would need to catch him if he fell.

Percy threw his hands up in exasperation, but winced immediately and grasped at his ribs. They finally reached the correct floor and Percy flung himself into the water, gasping at the feeling of his wounds healing as Clint watched on in confusion.

Percy emerged from the water a moment later, shirt still torn but healed and not bloody. He gave Clint two thumbs up and walked past him out of the room. Man that was tiring. He could barely fight one harpy. He'd have to take Natasha up on her offer to train.

Clint watched him go with pursed lips and raised eyebrows. Okay. So he could heal himself in water. He'd file that away in his memory bank. That must have meant that he wasn't near water when he got all of those other scars. Interesting.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things have to get worse before they get better.

Peter was disappointed that Percy hadn't stayed. He had stuff to tell him! Like the fact that May saw Peter come home in his Spiderman suit. He face-palmed at his own stupidity. That wasn't fun explaining. She almost grounded him into next year but he convinced her to let him go to the expo because college recruiters would be there. It also meant May was coming with. She wasn't allowed to go on the Avengers tour but he would show her another time. He really just wanted to introduce her to Percy.

_ Speak of the devil and he shall appear _ Peter thought to himself as Percy emerged from the elevator in a whole new outfit. 

"May, that's Percy, my new friend I told you about!" He beckoned for Percy to come over. He hadn't told her much other than that he was recovering from injury at the tower because Tony had the best doctors around and that he didn't speak

He also told her that he was a camp counselor for kids who came from single parent homes. And that he lived in Midtown. And that occasionally his mom sent cookies over to the tower and they were always blue. And that Percy knew he was Spiderman. 

Ok so he had told her a lot, but he was excited!

Percy waved with that winning smile on his face and made his way through the crowd of teens to Peter. He looked good, like he hadn't even been in a fight with a monster half an hour ago. And he was actually wearing... Khakis and a light blue button up. It made his eyes look even bluer.

"Percy this is my Aunt May, May this is Percy," Peter gestured at the two with a smile.

"Percy it's wonderful to meet you, Peter has told me all about you," May smiled as Percy shook her hand.

"Maaaaaaay," Peter groaned. That was so embarrassing.

"Whoops, sorry. Was that embarrassing? Sorry," she let out a breathy giggle and shrugged at Percy, who shrugged as well with a smile. 

"Peter told me you're living here for now, are you enjoying it?" She asked.

Percy nodded enthusiastically and pulled out his white board, slowly and meticulously writing (he wanted to make a good impression on Peter's aunt, he couldn't show her his terrible handwriting.)

'It's great! I wish my mom could be here too. Way bigger than our apartment.' He shrugged one shoulder like 'what can you do?'

"Oh no you must miss her terribly. Are you sure Mister Stark wouldn't allow her to stay temporarily while you're here?" 

"Mister Stark can be very generous, but Percy already thinks he's pushing his limits and doesn't want to ask for anything else from him," Peter replied to his aunt, scrunching up his nose. It must suck to not be able to see his mom and not really be allowed to go do anything.

"Oh I'm sure he would allow it. You just let me talk to him, Percy. I'll convince him," May rolled up her sleeves and Percy waved his hands in front of himself and shook his head with wide eyes. Tony already didn't like him, he didn't need Peter's aunt possibly making it worse.

"Alright, fine," she sighed, but winked at him. "But you let me know and I'll give him a stern talking to. Peter, I see Happy and Tony over there. I think I need to have a word with them," Peter's eyes widened as she strode over to the two men with determination in her eyes.

"Oh boy," Peter whispered, turning to Percy. "May found out about Spiderman. It was  _ terrifying _ . I think she's going to kill Mister Stark."

'Good luck' Percy wrote on his white board. There wasn't much else he could say in that situation. That was rough.

"Oh! But exciting news! My class is going on a trip to Europe this Spring, isn't that awesome?" Peter exclaimed.

Percy shuddered. Europe. The ancient lands. Bad stuff.

"Right. Europe is bad. Sorry," Peter laughed nervously. "But if Mister Stark gets you an anti-monster Starkphone we can text! That would be so cool!"

Percy nodded, though he doubted Tony was going to go out of his way to help Percy, even after standing up for him to his dad. Percy was convinced he was more upset that somebody had infiltrated his fortress and wanted to antagonize him.

Percy hadn't heard from his father or Thor since. That was super weird. So was Hades showing up. Percy did feel a little lighter but he knew it would take more than one magic-sucking event to rid himself of Tartarus. He winced. 

"Speaking of," Bruce came from behind them, but paused. "How did you-" Bruce looked from the elevator back to Percy. "You know," he sighed. "I had to explain to the poor cleaning lady why the elevator was flooded with blood." He raised his eyebrows at Percy, who shrugged innocently. "Not fun. You should be more careful."

Peter side-eyed Percy, looking him up and down for injuries.

"Anyway, I came here to give you this," he handed Percy a shiny new Starkphone that was open to a notes app. "It only works on airplane mode and Bluetooth, so until Tony can figure out GPS and Wi-Fi that doesn't attract monsters, it will have to do. None of us know ancient Greek, so he got a hold of Annabeth to figure that aspect of it out. But, it should seamlessly translate your typing to English so we can read it."

Percy gawked as his Greek-wired brain easily understood the letters and made sense of them.

His fingers whizzed across the keys and he shoved his "Thank you so much!" In Bruce's face with a huge smile.

"Happy to help. Now," he sighed, "I have to go grade science projects." The older man walked away and Percy was practically bouncing with joy. No more struggling to write! Gods bless!

Percy was typing again, thanking the gods and Tony Stark for making this happen because  _ damn _ it was so much faster.

'Sorry I missed the expo, I'm sure your project did great!' Percy 'told' Peter as Ned and Michelle walked over. 

"We are  _ very _ excited to hear from the judges. If any team from our school wins we're getting a pizza party!" Ned exclaimed.

The four formed a tight circle, standing amidst the crowd, and Percy didn't even notice Michelle next to him as he started typing out his response. 

"That's not English," she observed. 

"Percy's... Uh... Foreign. Yup." Ned nodded to himself, not noticing Peter shaking his head at him.

"I thought you said he lived in Midtown?" Michelle asked skeptically.

"He does. Yeah. Uh..." Peter bit his lip and looked at Percy. Gods, how did he get into this mess. This is why he avoided having mortal friends. 

He rushed to type out an answer with Peter's friends' curious eyes following his fingers.

'My dad is an immigrant and taught me Greek. I'm dyslexic and their alphabet is easier for me to read.' 

It was apparently a good enough answer because Michelle shrugged with a nod and a quiet "Cool."

"What's going on, nerds?" Flash pushed his way through to them, invading their little cluster. "I bet my and Gwen's project will beat Ned and Penis'." He smirked, probably teasing Peter, but Percy wasn't fond of bullies. "And Michelle, you didn't even make a project. Why are you here again?" Oh boy Percy was getting riled up. "Oh, hey, nice to see you again Percy."

Oh man Percy wished he could smack this punk but with his enhanced strength, it just wouldn't be fair. And he obviously couldn't verbally wreck him. So, Percy decided to go for silent intimidation. 

He pulled himself up to his full height, towering over all of them, and crossed his arms across his chest. He narrowed his eyes at Flash and watched as the boy's confidence visibly drained from his body. Percy raised his eyebrows and made a "shoo" motion with his hand, effectively eliminating him from the group.

Percy relaxed his muscles and adopted his usual relaxed posture, effectively making himself look smaller.

"Dude you are so tall for a 16 year old. And buff. Like. Why are you like this?" Ned looked shocked at Percy's sudden change in demeanor, but the demigod huffed out a laugh and quickly typed his response.

'You've seen my dad. The guy's a giant.'

Ned nodded.

"That's valid. Guess it's just in your genes."

"So. Swordfighting. That's not normal," Michelle commented, obviously referencing earlier when they surprised Percy in the training room. 

Percy shook his head. No, no it was not normal. She was completely correct. 

"Mister Stark said you're joining Midtown in the Spring. Sucks that you won't be able to go on the field trip because you'll have to be in class," she continued and Percy's face screwed up like he'd eaten something sour. 

'I am most definitely not smart enough for that school. He's BSing you.'

"What reason does he have to lie to a bunch of strangers about another stranger?" She inquired, but Percy shook his head and wrote out a response. 

'There is no way in Hell I'm going to that school.'

Percy was a notorious school-destroyer. He wasn't about to start going to Peter's school and wreck that, too. Plus it's not like he would be speaking to anyone or having meaningful conversations with teachers. 

"Percy! Hey! Are you- are you wearing a button up? Holy Hades," thoughts of genius schools forgotten, Percy turned towards the male voice, seeing two people he never expected to see on the east coast, much less Stark Tower.

"It's a good look on you, Jackson. I still prefer the toga though," the girl smirked at him. 

Percy was absolutely gobsmacked. Shocked. He couldn't believe they were there.

"Don't look so surprised. We have a meeting at camp, some reconciliation business to attend to," she spoke again but Percy couldn't comprehend what was even happening.

"Percy, who are your friends?" Peter poked him in the shoulder, but Percy's brain finally got it's shit together and he flung himself into a three person hug.

"It's good to see you too, bro. How have your first few days been here?" Jason asked. Peter sort of recognized him, he was with Percy all those weeks ago after Tartarus. He didn't recognize the girl. She wore jeans and a purple t-shirt and wore her long dark hair in a side braid.

Percy frantically typed in his new phone and shoved it in Jason's face, who squinted his eyes and read aloud: "Tony made me an app that translates Greek to English so I don't have to try to read English with my dumb brain!"

"Percy your brain isn't dumb it's just full of seaweed," Jason laughed and cuffed Percy on the shoulder and the son of Poseidon let out a joyful laugh. Man he had missed Jason. And Reyna, too!

Percy pulled the two over to the awaiting trio of geniuses and showed his message to Peter, who  _ thankfully _ did not read it aloud.

'This is Jason and Reyna. They're praetors at Camp Jupiter in California.'

"It's nice to see you again, Jason and nice to meet you Reyna," Peter smiled at them. "I'm Peter, and these are my friends Ned and Michelle." They greeted each other but Percy sort of zoned out after a bit. They were having a meeting without him? He clearly hadn't been invited. He supposed he wasn't a camp counselor anymore. He certainly wasn't equipped to be one after everything. 

"We just stopped by to say hello, but we really have to get going. We'll see you again, ok Percy?" Jason asked and Percy nodded, putting on his happy face and seeing his friends off.

He typed out a dumb excuse to give to Peter and his friends, quickly making his way back to his suite. It was noon, and while usually at this point he was feeling better, he felt worse after that meeting. It was so good to see his friends again but he felt sort of left out and left behind. Useless. Like he couldn't help any- 

The building shook. JARVIS' voice came through, likely for all of the Avengers floors: "Assembly required on the first floor. Sir needs help evacuating the children." Percy was probably better off waiting-

There was a loud  **_boom_ ** . 

Maybe he was better off also evacuating with Peter and -  _ PETER.  _ Percy could still help one person (plus his two friends). He ran out of the room and stared wide eyed as Steve and Bucky stood in the elevator, watching him as the door closed.

_ Fuck _ he was on the fifty-first floor. The elevator was too slow anyway! He threw himself into the stairway and started sliding down railings and jumping from one to the next (trying not to break his ankles, enhanced as they may be) until he rushed out onto the first floor (beating the elevator, TAKE THAT!) to see... A mess. Papers were strewn everywhere, projects flung about, people scattering about and not actually evacuating. Percy spotted Ned and Flash crouched behind a table and frantically looked for Peter. He spotted him outside with Michelle and a bunch of other kids, but the danger was inside the room with them. 

Percy eyed him up. Probably a mutant. He was creating wind in the room, but Percy couldn't rule out the option that he could control other elements. He ran while the mutant was turned and slid under a table to come face to face with Ned and Flash. Both looked terrified at being stuck and Percy pointed towards the employee exit at the back of the room. The pathway was behind the mutant (who was as at that point floating in the air and giving some dumb monologue about the Avengers not recruiting mutants) and relatively clear, but he had to remember that the two of them were not nearly as fast as Percy would be, so he pulled them by their shirtsleeves and started rushing towards the door.

It was just his dumb demigod luck that the mutant turned and saw them. Apparently he wasn't just looking to just yell at Tony, he also wanted to cause damage because he came right towards them (the only kids who hadn't evacuated). Naturally, Percy couldn't even use Riptide because it was celestial bronze. He groaned and shoved the two boys towards the door and looked around for a weapon.

God there was nothing here it was just giant stacks of paper on tables and - oh, well. That would do.

Percy picked up the rolling chair closest to him, spun, and flung it at the mutant, distracting it enough to let Ned and Flash escape. 

Unfortunately, it was not enough to also let  _ him _ escape. He slipped as the mutant created a windy vortex ( _ that's called a tornado, dumbass _ he thought to himself) and sucked him into the middle of the room.

And honestly, Percy thought as the mutant pulled Percy towards his own body and got Percy in a loose chokehold, this dude  _ sucked _ as a villain. He barely had a grip on Percy, he didn't have a weapon, and his motive was  _ basic _ .

He flew himself and Percy outside where everyone had evacuated and Percy rolled his eyes. He just wanted an audience. Typical. 

"Don't move or I'll kill the boy," he shouted towards the Avengers on the ground and Percy groaned. The guy smelled like stale coffee. Gross.

"Honestly you could have picked anyone here and you had to pick that one to threaten?" Stark called through his suit, flying about twenty feet away from them. Percy shrugged at Tony, it's not like he wanted these things to happen. He considered using his powers, because he clearly out-powered this dude, but it would raise too many questions.  _ I guess I'm going for the human approach, _ he thought with a sigh.

He looked down to gauge the distance. If he fell he probably wouldn't sprain an ankle, he supposed he would just have to hope his demigod bones were strong enough not to snap. 

A quick elbow jab into his captor's ribs had the chokehold loosening, and Percy used the distraction to judo-flip the guy in midair, unfortunately causing his own body to fall straight to the ground, but Annabeth had taught him how to fall to avoid injury. He took most of the impact in his feet, but let the rest of his momentum throw him forwards into a summersault, gracefully landing back on his feet and brushing his nice clothes off.

The mutant gawked at him and Percy gave him two middle fingers. 

It was enough of a distraction for the Avengers to neutralize him, and Percy sighed with relief. Two fights in one day? Ridiculous. He was  _ so  _ over it, but Peter and Company quickly found him.

"Jesus Christ Percy!" Peter shouted and Ned started enthusiastically recounting how Peter had thrown a rolling chair at the guy to let him and Flash escape, sacrificing himself in the process. 

"You threw a  _ chair _ at a  _ mutant _ who was hostile and could have  _ killed you? _ You have a sword! Why didn't you use your sword?" Peter exclaimed, clearly worried about Percy but now knowing how to deal with it. 

"It was  _ dope _ ," Ned emphasized, putting one hand on Peter's shoulder.

"It's not like he can just carry a sword with him everywhere, Peter," Michelle added, and Percy was thankful for the distraction because Peter obviously forgot that his  _ magic sword _ only worked on demigods and monsters. 

Peter pouted. "You're not wrong," he grumbled, looking a little pink. 

"Peter! OHMYGOD!" Peter's Aunt May engulfed him in a hug. "Stop getting into trouble young man!" 

"Maaaaay," Peter groaned and tried unsuccessfully to wiggle out of the hug. It made Percy chuckle, though it also made him miss his mom. 

She finally let go of Peter but didn't leave just yet. 

"Are you okay Percy? You took quite the tumble," she looked him over once. "Not a scratch on you, you're a very lucky young man," and Percy shrugged with a small smile, internally groaning at how  _ unlucky _ he actually was. 

Especially since when he finally moved from the spot he had fallen to, he remembered that no matter what Annabeth taught him, he would never be as good at it. He'd definitely hit his head when he did the summersault. Yup. He probably hadn't noticed because of the adrenaline rush but as he took one little step forward a wave of dizziness hit him. He placed one hand on Peter's shoulder to steady himself and reached the other hand to the back of his head where an ache was starting. Naturally, his hand came back with blood on it. 

Whoops.

"Oh my God, Percy! We can take you up to medical and patch you up," Peter suggested.

"Uh, no. We're taking him to the hospital Peter! He's probably got a concussion and his head is bleeding!" May countered, but Percy jerked back at the thought of going to a hospital and shook his head. He instantly regretted it, bringing his hands up to hold his face as his head started throbbing. 

Percy groaned and swayed. He had ambrosia up in his room. That would fix the situation. Alas, Peter's aunt was yet again insisting Percy go to the hospital. Percy yet again shook his head (forgetting the last time he did that and instantly regretting it). 

"We can't force him to go to the hospital," Peter tried to reason.

"You should probably go to the hospital," Michelle added and Percy frowned at her, put a hand on his heart, gasped, and generally looked overdramatically betrayed. 

"Don't look at me like that. You smashed your head on the street." She deadpanned. She sort of reminded him of a quieter version of Annabeth.

"I hate to agree, man, but..." Ned trailed off and Percy gasped. Him too? They were ganging up on him.

"A consensus then? No, Peter you don't count, you also hate hospitals," May cut him off.

Percy took one last look at them before ducking into the crowd and taking off down the street.


	18. Chapter 18

"Come  _ on _ guys. Seriously?" Peter sighed. "I told you he's being treated at Stark Tower for injuries and that didn't give you any indicator that he hates hospitals? Like so much that he worked something out with  _ Tony Stark _ ?" Peter threw his hands up. "He's gonna run away and probably has a concussion so he's gonna pass out in an alleyway and get murdered!" He knew he was being dramatic but he was trying to buy time for Percy to run off, wherever he was going. Hopefully nowhere dangerous.

"Should we go after him?" Ned asked nervously.

Peter's phone buzzed and he looked down at the text from Doctor Banner: 'Percy's in medbay. Asked me to keep you updated.'

"Nah he's fine. Getting medical attention," Peter gestured to his phone as evidence before putting it back in his pocket. 

"Good. Now. Peter, you're still grounded. You know what you did. We'll be heading home now. Ned, Michelle, are your families around?" May asked, making sure everyone was safe before she whisked Peter off. 

As they were walking away his phone buzzed, and Peter read the text worriedly: 'Percy's out of ambrosia and nectar. Definitely concussed. Pretty badly.' Another text came through: 'He's trying to use water to heal himself but I don't think he can focus enough to do it. I'm impressed he even got to medbay without fainting.'

Peter sighed. No nectar, no ambrosia, and no water to help him. He'd just have to ride it out until he could focus enough to heal himself.

"No phone." May reached her hand out. "Grounded."

"Please, Doctor Banner is keeping me updated on Percy's health status," Peter pleaded. Her eyes softened, he definitely cared about the other teen.

"Alright, that's okay then. Is he okay?"

"He has a really bad concussion. Doctor Banner said he's surprised he even made it to medical without passing out," Peter frowned. It surely wasn't a good situation but he knew Percy would pull through.

______________

No training until he could heal himself.  _ No training? _ What was he supposed to do with all of that time? Read? He laughed at himself, then groaned at the pain it caused him. 

Fine. He'd just train in his room. 

He started with pushups. He didn't get very far because JARVIS was a snitch and told Bucky that Percy was still training.

When Percy opened the door and found the Winter Soldier standing there with both eyebrows raised, he sighed deeply.

"Do I have to babysit you so you don't train?" He asked from the doorway.

Percy shook his head no. You know. Like a liar.

"Alright, Steve and I are having a movie day so if JARVIS tells me you're training again I'm going to force you to watch Disney movies with us so I can keep an eye on you. Got it?" Percy nodded and Bucky excused himself, finding his way back to his own suite. 

Okay. Where would JARVIS not have cameras?

The bathroom! Great idea! Percy high fived himself. 

He started back on his push ups. 

This time, JARVIS warned him.

"Mister Jackson, I would like to remind you that although there are no cameras in the bathroom, I can still sense your biometrics. Your elevated heart rate and heat signature indicate that you are still training. I have not alerted Sergeant Barnes but I have orders to do so if you do not cease."

Ugh! Percy groaned. Ridiculous. Stupid genius Tony Stark looking out for him. Just let him be!

Percy paced the bathroom, not giving the covered mirrors a second thought (thank the gods). What could he do? He could probably heal the wound at this point but he wasn't sure if it would heal the internal damage. It was worth a try.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry

Percy was just minding his business floating on his back in the pool fully clothed (people were always surprising him while he was in the pool) when he heard someone walk in. He cracked one eye open, then closed it again when he saw Sam there.

"A lot of people feel restless when they're injured and can't go about their normal routine," he commented. "The vets I work with get especially frustrated because they're either feeling useless, or they're afraid if they don't train they won't be ready for an attack. I can't tell which one you are right now."

Percy sighed and swam over to the side of the pool where his Starkphone was, and turned the volume on before typing, so the phone would read out what he said.

'An unprepared demigod is a dead demigod," the automated voice spoke for him.

"Is that what they teach you? What if you're not prepared?"

He started typing again.

'I'm always prepared. I have a magic sword that always reappears in my pocket.' He reached down into the water to grab Riptide and show it to Sam as evidence.

"And when you're too injured to heal yourself? And aren't prepared for a fight?"

'Are you trying to get me to admit that sometimes I don't want to fight? I never want to fight. I'm sixteen. But it's my job. I'll never be too weak to protect my friends. I'll never be too injured to not fight. And I'm not about to let a self-righteous band of superheroes tell me otherwise.' He stared Sam down, daring him to rebuke him.

"Well something is wrong deep inside you if you can't even actually talk to anybody," Steve's tight voice came from the doorway and Sam sighed. That was not the right thing to say. Why did nobody listen to the licenced counselor?

"Not how I would have gone about that but okay," Percy heard Bucky's voice from behind him. What was this a superhero party?

Steve's words were like the match that lit the line of gunpowder in one of those old movies where it leads up to a barrel and everything explodes. Percy felt like that. 

He pulled himself out of the pool and willed himself dry, staring daggers at Captain America.

"So what? You think not talking makes me weaker? Makes me less threatening?" He stalked towards the Captain, the pool sloshing with waves behind him.

"Look you need to calm down, son," Steve raised his hands up in a peaceful gesture but Percy was on a roll. He wasn't sure where he was rolling to, but nonetheless, he was on a roll.

"You want me to calm down? My friends and family abandoned me to live with a bunch of strangers who don't know anything about me but who want to 'rehabilitate' me," he used air quotes to demonstrate what a joke he thought that was. 

"I can't  _ do _ anything here but eat, sleep, train. And you know what? That's all I did before, too. Eat, sleep, train, and play war games. It's what demigods  _ do.  _ But I wasn't alone," he growled, but paused in front of the Captain, not touching him but pulling himself up to his full height and looking the man in the eyes.

"Son-" 

"I'm not your son."

"I think maybe we should all calm down," Bucky tried from behind Steve. When nobody answered him, he texted Tony to alert the others that he, Steve, and Sam may need backup.

"I've been nothing but calm! I've done nothing other than be calm, and enjoy myself around my friends, and keep up with my daily life. And you know where that got me? Here. And even here? I was the poster boy for calm. I minded my business for four days. Sure my dad fucked us up a little but that wasn't my doing!" It was and he knew it. But that was besides the point. 

"I didn't come here to anger you," Steve spoke slowly and quietly.

"Angry? I'm not angry," it was like a switch had flipped, and that was when Sam felt a hint of real fear slither down his spine. Percy relaxed, his posture softening as he threw Steve a lazy smile. 

"We're all good." The water stopped sloshing. "I'm all healed up, if you were wondering," Percy pushed past the two men in the doorway and raised his eyes at the other Avengers in the hallway. "No more concussion." If they were shocked he was speaking, they didn't show it.

"But I won't be training here anymore. This is a very stressful environment. I don't know how Doctor Banner manages," he smiled that perfect smile at them as he walked backwards towards the elevator. 

"Where will you go? Your friends abandoned you, your mother agreed to send you away to live with strangers, you have nothing else," Natasha was quiet, but Percy heard her just fine. 

"It's not like you care," he said with a shrug and the elevator doors closed in front of him.

_____________

_ I thought it was supposed to be a clear night _ , Peter thought to himself.

He was patrolling and it was absolutely downpouring. Visibility was low, even for his enhanced eyes. Everyone looked sort of blurry now him but a bright orange t-shirt caught his eyes. 

Was that? Peter swung down behind the bench where Percy was sitting cross-legged, eating a soggy hot pretzel.

"Fancy seeing you here," Peter called through the rain. He was surprised to see Percy out of the tower at all, much less at night and in this weather. 

The boy in question perked up at the sound of his voice.

"Hey Peter! How's it hangin?" Percy turned and smiled at him like it was totally normal.

"How's it... Hangin?"

"Yeah! It's a spider web joke! Because you're always hanging around," Percy laughed and leaned against the back of the bench, the epitome of casual and cool.

"You... Talk now?" Peter asked curiously, and Percy laughed.

"Yeah! I had a chat with Steve and decided that my fears were all for naught!"

"Your fears?" Peter felt like he was shouting over the rain. Everything felt wrong but Percy seemed totally normal.

"Yeah I was so afraid of the things I would say if I opened my mouth after I came out of Tartarus, you know that it would change how people thought of me," Percy shrugged and smiled. "But then I realized that nobody cares. It's really freeing!" 

Something was very wrong.

"What are you doing out here?" Peter shouted. It felt like the rain was only getting heavier. 

"Enjoying the weather!" Percy looked as happy as Peter had ever seen him, twirling in the rain like it was a romantic comedy, but Peter's spidey senses were telling him things were very wrong.

"What do you mean nobody cares?"

"I mean nobody cares! About me!" He seemed so joyous.

"What about Annabeth? Your mom? Jason and Reyna and Bucky? What about me?"

"It's okay, Peter," Percy smiled softly at him, sort of pitying. He walked towards the other boy and pulled him into a hug. "You don't have to lie to me." He pulled away and patted Peter on the back. 

Percy just ... Took off down the street and Peter felt like his feet were stuck to the ground.

What felt like minutes later he tried to find Percy but he was too elusive, so he found himself back at Stark Tower, stumbling and soaking wet as he conveniently found all of the Avengers in the debrief room. Peter pulled off his mask, panting and wide eyed as he took all of them in, looking way too calm.

"What have you done?"


	20. Chapter 20

They were having their meeting with Jason and Reyna when Annabeth was alerted to a visitor. Chiron had brought none other than Queens' very own Spiderman into the Big House. 

"Um, hi everyone. Sorry to interrupt."

"Spiderman, why are you here? Is it Percy?" Annabeth cut to the chase.

"Uh yeah... So Captain America antagonized him and he started talking again-"

"That's good right?" A boy across the table asked.

"Don't interrupt, Connor," Annabeth hissed.

"Yeah so Captain America antagonized him and he ran away."

Silence. 

"Why wouldn't he come here if he's running away from the Avengers? Or go home?" Jason asked and Peter shuffled from one foot to the other. 

"He thinks everyone abandoned him. You guys, his family, the Avengers, me." 

"We didn't - we wanted him to get help!" Annabeth exclaimed.

"Yeah by cutting him off from his friends and family and leaving him with a bunch of strangers who think he's a national threat," Peter was listing things he'd heard from Percy and the other Avengers. 

"We thought it would help! That you guys would help!" Peter hung his head at her words.

"I've been looking for him all night. I just wanted to let you know," he turned to leave, only to bump into Percy's goth friend.

"I'm going to help you find him," he looked up at Peter.

"Nico, right?" He asked. He was the one who walked through shadows. The boy nodded. "I would be very grateful for your help."

"He can't have gone far. It's been less than a day," Connor added.

"He swims infinitely faster than he can run and we live on an island. There's a slim chance he's travelling by foot," Amnabeth replied, and Peter had to agree. Percy had nowhere to go on land. 

"I actually know where he is," Nico drawled. "I felt it as soon as he passed through. He's visiting my dad."


	21. Chapter 21

"Your dad?" Peter asked curiously.

"Hades. He apparently paid Percy a visit a few days ago. I'm guessing it has something to do with Tartarus," the younger boy replied as the two walked out the door.

"Yeah they both said something about there being a stain on his soul. I guess that's literal, not figurative, huh?"

"Yeah it can do that. If you spend an extended period of time down there it can sort of grab ahold of you and ingrain itself in your very being," Nico shrugged like that was a normal thing to say.

"That would explain at least some of Percy's behavior," Peter nodded. "So where are we going?"

"We are going to go visit my dad," Nico sighed and shook his head. "Percy must be a wreck if he actually decided of his own volition to seek help from him of all people. They don't exactly have the friendliest history," Nico explained as he opened the door to a cabin, this one all sleek black stone. The interior was... Dark. 

"Shadow travelling is weird the first time. Just go with it," Nico grabbed Peter's hands.

"What do you-" he was cut off as the shadows enveloped him in their cold grasp, and he felt as if he had never been so tired yet so exhilarated in his entire life. In a moment it was over.

"You'll be dizzy for a bit, maybe pass out. It's been known to happen," Nico added, but Peter felt fine.

"I have weird radioactive DNA and other biological mysteries happening, I should be fine," he reassured him. "Lead the way." 

Nico shrugged and started walking through the darkness towards what looked like a huge palace coming into view. He wasn't much of a talker but Peter was getting antsy.

"Wicked," he whispered as it was finally completely revealed. It was all sleek black stone, like the cabin, but it was surrounded with beautiful gardens of the most colorful flowers, but when they approached Peter noticed they seemed to be made completely of gemstones and crystals, not plant cells and chlorophyll. 

Walking up to the entrance was surreal. The doors were massive, surely too heavy for Nico to push through, but the doors opened with his arrival.

Inside was... Well it was like a mansion, just not as scary and goth as the outside. Just past the foyer was a grand living room where Percy sat cross-legged on a couch animatedly telling a story while he stopped on a cup of... Was that tea? Surely the hyperactive boy wouldn't be drinking coffee. When they approached, Percy saw a man and a woman both on the couch across from him, nodding and shaking their heads in response to his words. 

The man (presumably Hades) raised a single finger at Percy to silence him and looked behind him at the two newcomers.

"Nico, Peter, what brings you here?" At that Percy turned around with a slight smile still gracing his face.

"Sup?" He asked them. "You can take the mask off, he already knows you. I didn't tell him, I swear. He just finds this stuff out," Percy shrugged and Peter removed his mask with a sigh, although without the goggles and the barrier of the mask his enhanced senses started bombarding him. Percy was drinking what smelled like Earl gray tea. There was a fire burning in another room. The living room was lit (weirdly) by eco friendly LED lights. He could see every stitch on the woman's dress across the room from him. Probably silk by the look of it. Peter blinked and tried to tone it down to deal with the noise and visuals.

"Percy, everyone is worried about you," Nico walked past Peter to sit in an armchair between both couches, and Peter followed, sitting on the far edge of the couch Percy was currently perched on. 

"They have no need to be. I'm doing fine. I'm working out an agreement with Uncle Hades to deal with the whole," he paused and Peter watched as the boy swallowed nervously. "With the whole Tartarus thing." He looked down. "It clearly takes a lot out of me just dealing with it, but it also takes him a lot of energy to try and draw the darkness out, so I may be chilling here for a while." Nico raised an eyebrow at his father, who shrugged.

"We kind of owe him. He rejected godhood on multiple occasions. It's the least I could do."

"Godhood?" Peter gawked. They were going to make Percy a  _ god? _ Damn. He must be even stronger and more powerful than even Peter knew. And on more than one occasion? And he turned it down? Whack. 

His hair? Whack. His sword? Whack? The fact that he was offered immortal life and unsurmountable powers and denied the offer more than once? Whack.

"Not my style," he shrugged nonchalantly. Peter scoffed and Percy rolled his eyes. "Could you see me being a god? God of what? PTSD? Pity? The bisexual agenda? Holding your breath for a really long time? Dolphins? I could keep going someone should really stop me," Percy was rambling and he knew it but boy he did not like the weird silence that was happening. "Memes? That feeling you get when you have to sneeze but it goes away and you feel bereft? The-"

"Jesus stop," Nico slapped his hand over Percy's mouth. "We get it. Plus obviously you'd be the god of demigod heroes. You're the only one that understands us, after all," Nico shrugged. "That's besides the point. We're just here to tell you everyone is worried and we just want to help. Even if it just means keeping you company while you recover here. I can bring Peter down whenever you need to socialize with someone other than me or my dad or Persephone. But like honestly you should start gardening with her. Horticultural therapy is real," Nico added and Persephone nodded enthusiastically.

"You would love it, Perseus. Not just the crystal garden. Hades created a false sun in an enclosed secret garden so that I could grow my beautiful plants down here. I'll give you a tour," the beautiful woman raved.

Percy perked up, that did sound nice. 

"But if you want to hang out some now, we're here. If not," Nico shrugged, "that's okay too. We're only an Iris message away. And obviously you used Mrs. O'Leary to get here so don't hesitate to come to us." 

They'd barely let Percy speak up until that point (his rambling didn't count as conversation) and Peter was nervous about what the demigod might say. The last time he saw Percy he was acting out of character. Peter was reminded that Percy was a demigod and that he was incredibly powerful and could be vengeful at times when the boy's eyes darkened, even though he kept his easy smile. It was so easy for him to act and put on his usual old personality. 

"Thanks, Neeks. I appreciate your support but I would have appreciated your support more when I emerged from Tartarus and you were one of the only two people who could have talked to me and understood. I also would have appreciated your support when you and Annie ambushed me and tricked me into signing up for therapy and quarantining me," the easy smile tightened and Percy stretched his arms above his head as he stood up. "But thanks, your support means a lot to me now. Now that everyone has fed me to the wolves," he shrugged and relaxed. "Maybe we can relate now that I'm an outcast, too. Have a real heart to heart about good ole Tarty. I can tell you why Annabeth is afraid to be within five feet of me and you can tell me why Jason is suddenly your best friend. And Peter," Percy tilted his head towards the boy. "I appreciate you as well. Like how you were feeding information about me to Stark for the entire time I've known you," Peter cringed, he didn't know how Percy knew about that. But he watched as Percy sighed and slumped. "But I'm not exactly in the position to be turning down visitors, and I could definitely use the socialization. So I wouldn't be completely opposed to hanging out. It just sucks thinking about how you'll all keep betraying me. Just like Luke."

Nico sucked in a breath. Oh, he knew about Luke. It must be terrible for Percy, having been betrayed by his first friend and then had the weight of the world on his shoulders (literally and figuratively) since he was 12, having to sort out friends when so many of them only wanted to be friends with The Son of Poseidon™ and not with Percy. He couldn't imagine how he must feel now. 

"We're not betraying you, Percy," Nico said softly and placed his hand on Percy's shoulder. "We thought it might help. And it didn't. And that's okay. So we'll try something new. If being down here helps, then that's great. If it doesn't, we'll find something new. We're not giving up on you."

Percy nodded, eyes downcast, and looked over to Peter questioningly.

"Uh, obviously we haven't known each other for a very long time but I consider you one of my friends. My other friends like you even though you've never actually spoken to you which probably says something good about you. I'd like to come visit you here and hang out but I'd also like it if you came back to the land of the living," he coughed, noticing the literal connotation of his phrasing. "Really whatever you think is best... I'd just like to be a part of it. And I'm sorry about Mister Stark. For what it's worth," he sighed and looked down. "He made it sound like we were helping you and that knowing more would help find better solutions. Obviously that didn't go very well..." He trailed off and Percy poked him in the side playfully.

"Don't worry about it. The past is in the past. If you and Nico can be good friends to me then I'll be a good friend to you. I just think staying here for the time being is in my best interest." 

"That's valid. So, wanna watch a movie?" Nico changed the subject.

"Ooh! I want to watch The Little Mermaid!" Percy was practically bouncing as Nico laughed and grasped both Percy and Peter by their shirts and shadow-travelled them to his bedroom where the DVD player awaited them.

"We just got completely ignored," Hades deadpanned to the now empty room.

"Yes, dear. Yes, we did." Persephone raised both eyebrows at him. "He's your son. You did this to him."

"I didn't raise him! It's not my fault he's a rebellious teenager!" The Lord of the Underworld exclaimed, aghast.

"Maybe you should have," the goddess laughed and stood, making her way to the spiral staircase in the foyer. "But, now that we're alone," she raised one inquiring eyebrow at her husband and laughed gleefully as he caught her meaning and hastened to follow her to their bedchambers. 


	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My timeline is going to be slightly off in the next two chapters mainly because I'm eliminating endgame lmao. Oh well.  
> Also sorry this took so long. Quarantine is cool but I still have to work 8 hours a day.

"Will you tell me what's on your mind?" Peter whispered.

Nico had left an hour ago to go visit some friends in Elysium (he figured since he was already in the Underworld he may as well), but not before showing the two other boys to Percy's new room in the palace. 

"Maybe. First tell me how you're here. You're grounded for life," Percy looked up from his lap with a small smile. The two were sitting cross-legged across from each other on Percy's delightfully blue bed playing Slapjack. 

"I told May you were still in med bay and had nobody to talk to. So she thinks I'm at Stark Tower under adult supervision," he blushed at the idea of lying to his Aunt. Now that she knew about the Spiderman thing he basically had no secrets from her. 

"Thank you for coming," the game forgotten, Percy smiled back at Peter. 

"Anytime. Seriously. I don't know how we can really keep in contact but I'll come whenever I can."

"You're grounded, you have school starting soon, patrol, and you have other friends to hang out with," Percy raised an eyebrow.

"I'll make time. I've solved harder problems," Peter shrugged. "Don't avoid the question. What's on your mind?"

Percy sighed and clenched his hands together in his lap, card game all but forgotten. 

"I feel guilty for leaving everybody and holing up here. I know it's better for me but I can't help but think that they're worried. Everyone has done me wrong in some way but I still worry that somehow I'm hurting them. Isn't that silly?" He let out a humorless chuckle.

"I don't think so. I think you know they're all still your friends and they're deeply worried. Even if they didn't make the best decision, their hearts were in the right place."

"They're all scared of me," he was whispering, worried that his voice would crack or waver. 

"Why?" Peter tentatively reached out and held one of Percy's hands in both of his. He wasn't really touchy feely because his skin was so sensitive (stupid spider), but he needed to physically reassure Percy that he wasn't going anywhere. 

"Everyone has different reasons I guess. Maybe they're not all scared of me but they pity me and I don't know which is worse. But... They've seen what happens when I get emotional. People get hurt. Chiron is scared because I'm the most powerful demigod of the century," he let out another sarcastic huff of air. "Not that I want to be. Jason and Nico are scared because they're both sons of the Big Three but they can't beat me in combat even when they work together," Peter raised his eyebrows at that. "Grover... I don't see him much but he's seen enough to be afraid of my mood swings. And Annie," a lump formed in his throat. "Things will never be the same. I terrify her." His hand in Peter's clenched into a fist. "I have saved her life countless times and yet she can barely look at me. She sent me away because she can't stand the sight of me," he practically growled. "I know part of it is because I remind her of Tartarus. But most of it... I scared her when we were down there... With what I did," Percy was hunched over, not looking at Peter, as he tried to make himself look smaller. 

"What did you do?" Peter prompted.

"You have to understand... With my powers, when I'm in danger I can fully utilize them and it's such a thrill, not having to hold back, being able to fully be myself and explore what I can do... But it takes over. It's so invigorating I can't," he cringed and paused. "I can't... I don't know how to explain it. It's like my morals go away and I'm just full of divine power. It's amazing. I love it, but it comes at the cost of my mind. It's like... I can save all of my friends by washing away the bad guys with a wave of water and letting them run away, but I could also fill every single one of their lungs with water and drown them with a single thought. And sometimes I just want to try out new things. Obviously that's bad. It's just... It feels right. Like I was meant to come into my powers. And I keep finding new ones." He rambled on.

"Percy, what did you do?" Peter wouldn't say he was frightened, he was more... Concerned.

"It's what I almost did ... Annie stopped me."

"Percy," Peter pushed.

"I almost-" a shudder wracked his body and he looked into Peter's eyes, his own swirling blue-green eyes haunted. "I almost killed a goddess," he looked down again. "I would have done it. But I saw the way she was looking at me and the way she was crying for me to stop. But I'd never felt so powerful, and we were in Tartarus, it's every demigod for themselves against those monsters. Well. It was me and Annie against them. But I dream about it," he looked up at Peter again, though the other boy's expression was a mix of so many emotions Percy couldn't pinpoint one. "I dream that I do kill her and we pass through unscathed. It would be another fight we won and another hardship we wouldn't have had to go through. I know I sound like a bad person. It's okay if you're scared."

It took Peter a moment to gather his thoughts, but he squeezed the hand that was in his own and gave Percy a soft look.

"I think that's why they chose to send you to the Avengers. They could help you embrace your powers and still stay yourself. Still stay sane. And if things went off the rails, they could take you-" Percy huffed a laugh.

"They couldn't take me on," he grumbled. "I could boil their blood in a moment. I could dehydrate them and leave their dessicated corpses for the vultures. I could drown them. There's water everywhere in everyone and everything," he was glaring at their joined hands so hard Peter almost let go. "When I come into my powers, who knows what it will do to me. I'm dangerous and reckless. I shouldn't be around people. I only wreck things and my power only grows. I am inevitable," he lifted his head and though his stormy eyes were flashing with anger, tears were gathering. 

"Do you know how I nearly killed a Goddess? How I controlled my father that day at dinner? I felt the water. Akhlys' veins run with poison. My father's with golden ichor. They both contain minute amounts of water. I could have stopped the flow or drowned them in their own fluid. I'm the one you should be afraid of. Not Mister Stark. Not Gaea. Me," he pulled his hand from Peter's grasp.

"This is why I didn't want to talk to any of you. I walk the line of golden boy hero son of Poseidon Percy Jackson and uncontrollably powerful dark and dangerous Percy Jackson. It's fine as a knife and I don't know which way I'll fall and I don't know what terrible things I'll say if you ask me questions like this. I don't want you to be scared of me, too," Percy's dark aura calmed down and he drew into himself even more. 

"It's okay to talk about the bad things, it allows us to talk you through your issues and come out smarter and stronger. You can always talk to me. It's scary, the power you have, but you aren't scary. You can handle it. And if you train, you can find out what other powers you have without being in imminent danger. Nobody gets hurt," Peter's words soothed the anxious demigod. 

"Somebody always gets hurt," Percy whispered, but he shook himself and sat up straight, putting on a smile. "That's enough of that for now. I can only handle so much heart to heart conversations in one day. Want to watch the movie?"


	23. Chapter 23

Peter kept sneaking back with Nico to visit Percy and slowly drawing answers out of him when Nico left them to their own devices. School was starting up again soon and he wanted Percy to start but he wasn't sure how to approach it. Percy had told him about all of the other schools he'd been to and how they all ended terribly. 

But it had been several weeks and several soul-sucking sessions with Hades. Peter had to admit Percy looked better, the circles under his eyes had lightened and his hair had regained some of its shininess. Now was as good a time as ever.

"Do you think you'll go to school next week?" Peter asked from next to Percy as they played Mario Kart.

"I think I'm better off if I work on recovery for now and start school at the beginning of the school year," Percy responded quickly, almost like he'd rehearsed the response.

"Are you sure? Getting ahead is probably the best way to go about it."

"Yeah, plus there will barely be any students there since so many are going on the Europe trip. I think I may stay here for a while. I've picked back up training and I may try to contact Bucky, apologize for my outburst, and see if they'll let me train there again. I'll need to work on my powers but I'll be better off training with someone than by myself or with zombies," he shrugged and paused the game. "Don't worry about me." 

"It's good to hear you're considering going back to the Avengers, but I still think school is a better option. Think about it,” Peter insisted, and Percy shrugged. He was worried about Percy though, what would happen while Peter was away on the Europe trip. 

"I was actually going to call Stark today, I was thinking since I only need a few more sessions with Uncle Hades, I could start living topside again. Maybe not with my mom or at camp since I'm still a bit of a loose cannon, but if Stark is amenable, I could stay there again," Percy shrugged and looked down. "It might be a long shot, but maybe if you're there with me he'll be more open." 

"Absolutely! We can call him now!" Peter turned to fully face Percy and put a hand on the other teen's shoulder, squeezing a little for support. 

"Oh. Uh. Right now? I was hoping to have a little more time to prepare," he scratched his head.

"No, it's best you don't prepare a speech. You'll just offend him," Peter shook his head and quickly dialled on his Starkphone. "It's amazing that I get service in the Underworld."

"Underoos, what's the sitch?" Came the voice from the phone. "Shouldn't you be at home? I can't track you." Suddenly the phone switched to video chat and Percy gaped like a fish at the suddenly very disapproving face of one Tony Stark. "Aquaman. Fancy seeing you not in Peter's bedroom. Where are you?"

"We're ... Uh... We're in my residence in the Underworld ... Sir," Peter choked back a laugh at Percy's obvious discomfort, but reached to squeeze his hand outside the view of the camera. "I've been... Mostly... Rehabilitated. And I wanted to call and apologize for my behavior," Peter was almost regretting not letting Percy plan his speech because of how stilted he sounded, but he had faith Percy would pull out some kind of tearjerker to get Mister Stark to help him again. "Even though I went through literal hell, there's no reason for me to threaten you and your friends and I'm sorry."

"And?" 

Percy cleared his throat at Tony's question.

"And my dad also isn't going to come threaten you. He visited me in the Underworld and he's back to being his super chill self. He was just mad I told him to fork off."

"And you're the reason Peter's been outside of GPS range?"

"That's not Percy's fault, Mister Stark. I chose to come visit, and I'd like to think my presence here has also helped Percy get back to his old self," Peter interjected. Percy sent him what hopefully was a thankful look, trying to express his appreciation through his eyes. It seemed like Peter got the message because he smiled softly at the other boy.

"Alright stop it with the googly eyes. Why did you actually call?" 

Percy snapped out of the moment and shook himself. He couldn't start developing feelings for Peter. It was hard not to, when he was one of Percy's closest friends and was so open to sharing with Percy and was so cute and understood the enhanced person struggle. But Percy was trying, because Peter was so  _ pure _ and  _ good.  _ Percy couldn't corrupt him.

"I wanted to know if you might allow me back at the tower to live there again. Not indefinitely. Probably under a month. I could use the training and... Therapy... While I'm getting the last of the darkness removed from my soul."

"Sure."

"Sure?" Percy gawked. "That was surprisingly easy. What gives?"

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth kid," Tony rolled his eyes. "You're going to play by my rules. You're going to have a schedule. And if you set one toe out of line, you're getting locked up in a hulk chamber. Got it?"

Percy neglected to mention that the hulk cage likely couldn't hold him.

"Got it." 

"Be here tomorrow morning at 9," and he hung up.

"Well," Peter was beaming at Percy. "That went much better than expected."

That smile was so bright Percy wanted to sunbathe in it. He could get lost in those shining eyes. He shook his head. He couldn't catch feelings. For Peter's sake.


	24. Chapter 24

This time, when Nico dropped Percy off at Stark Tower, Percy went willingly. It helped that Peter was there. Yet again, he was met by Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, and Bucky Barnes. 

“So,” Percy drawled and put his hands out placatingly. “From the bottom of my heart... my bad.”   
“Hah! In the time you’ve been gone you started watching TV? I thought demigods were afraid of all technology?” Bucky still seemed so lighthearted, but Percy imagined it was because he himself ran off more than once when Steve brought him in.

“Parks and Rec is an American institution. Also, there’s really good wifi in the Underworld.”   
“So, that’s where you were?” Steve asked sternly/

“Yes, sir. Tartarus had a physical grasp on my soul and I’ve spent the past several weeks spending time with my Uncle Hades removing him from my being,” Percy explained.

“Yeah, it was super cool, too! Like watching an exorcism but instead of a demon it was like evil glitter,” Peter interjected and Percy tried not to roll his eyes at the other boy’s excitement.

“And have you finished with the... exorcism?” Steve asked.

“I estimate I’ll have to go back three or four more times before I’m fully free. But after so many sessions I’m doing better and have a much stronger control on my emotions and my powers.”

“I hope you won’t be offended that I find that hard to believe. Even without the actual embodiment of evil having a hold on you, you still went through a lot and haven’t had counseling. You’re going to have a strict training and counseling schedule that you can supplement with more training, swimming, and socialization among other things,” Steve nodded his head towards the elevator and started leading the others towards the communal floors.

“What will the training look like? I try to train daily,” Percy worried his lip at the thought of not being able to train as often as he’d like. The physical exertion was a great help to his wandering mind.

“You’ll have a strict training schedule four days a week, and you can use your free time the remaining days however you like,” Steve responded and Percy nodded. “You’ll train with one of us Avengers for at least an hour on those four days, and the rest of the time you’ll use the simulator or other machines. Swimming doesn’t count as exercise, though you will have access to the pool in all non-training hours. Except for counseling hours. You have to go to those so you won’t have access to the training room or pool.”

“You’ll be training with me today, tiger. Up for some swordfighting?” Clint was waiting for them in the communal living room. 

“Absolutely,” Percy smiled. He’d only crossed swords with Nico the past few weeks and he was getting bored. It was always a challenge, the Ghost King had gotten much better, but they started predicting each other's moves. 

“You’ll have the same rooms as before, but you can’t lock the doors unless there’s a lockdown. Safety precaution, sorry kid,” and Tony did actually look sorry. Percy figured the man didn’t take any pleasure in taking away Percy’s privacy, but based on his previous behavior, he had to be kept available.

“Will I be able to see my mom?”

“She’s free to come but we’re under the impression she’s working longer hours so you may want to call her and schedule some times for her to come over. You’re not totally free to go roam the city alone yet, so if you want to go visit her, you’ll bring one of us with you,” Percy cringed at Tony’s words. He didn’t want any of them at their apartment. It would be really stressful for him and his mom.

“I know my dad probably isn’t welcome here after last time, but have any of you talked to Thor about what happened?” He asked the room in general.

“Yeah, apparently Asgardians have a thing against sending kids to fight wars and he hadn’t been able to contact any Olympians in over a century to ‘talk’ it out,” Clint chuckled. “It’s against his very strong moral code.”

“I mean... I get it,” Peter murmured and Percy nudged him with his elbow, prompting the other boy to see Percy roll his eyes at Thor and his father’s antics. Because when his father had visited him in the Underworld, Peter had been there and saw his dad in a normal mood and acting like his laid-back self. 

He’d also seen said dad ruffle Percy’s hair and make dad jokes, and Percy was still living with the embarrassment.

“So, Peter has to go home and pack. You can unpack and then train with Legolas. You’ll have lunch and then counseling at two. The rest of the night is for your own use, but you’re invited to and expected to be at dinner. You don’t have to go, but we want you to be there,” Tony nodded and led Peter off (who reached out to squeeze Percy’s arm in solidarity).

“Bucky and I are going to be sparring this morning as well so we’ll see you then,” and with that, Steve and Bucky left Percy with Clint.

“I’m going with you to your room,” Clint said after a pause. “Not because I have to watch you or anything,” he backtracked. 

“Why then?”

“I think you’re a good kid Perry Johnson,” and with a wink he started leading Percy to his room.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyway quarantine is boring and I hate working from home so I'm back to irregular updates at random times.

Week One

Sunday (Right After Clint Dropped that Conversational Bomb)

“I’m sorry, what?” Percy stopped dead in his tracks and crossed his arms at the archer.

“Oh my God you should have seen your face,” Clint was doubled over laughing. “Your eyes just  _ bugged _ out of your head and you are bright red right now. Jesus Christmas. Oh god,” he let out another hearty laugh before wiping at his eyes and straightening up again. “Oh man.”

“Explain yourself,” Percy eyed him wearily and his hand itched to grab Riptide. Not to use it, but he drew comfort from knowing it was with him.

“We had a meeting with your camp heads when Tony told us you were coming back. The short grumpy one told us that calling you by the wrong name would give you a sense of home,” he choked back another peal of laughter. “He gave a few suggestions Peter Johannson,” another laugh.

“I swear, Mister D will always figure out how to irritate me. Even when I’m out of his reach,” Percy sighed, but he was surprised to find that it did bring back some good memories and he smiled at the thought. “Come on, Chris Barkley, show me to my room.”

Clint laughed at that, too.

________________________

“Okay, I don’t usually use a shortsword, I’m more of a katana guy, or machetes (but those I like to throw). So take it easy on me the first round so I can get used to it,” Clint pleaded, but Percy was pretty sure he was fucking with him. “Oh hey baby spider, I didn’t think you trained with weapons,” Clint interrupted himself and called over Percy’s shoulder. 

“I finished packing early and Miss Natasha said she would teach me how to choke a man with my thighs!” Peter exclaimed from behind him and Percy could  _ feel _ his face start burning up at the thought.  _ Be cool be cool be cool. DAMNIT PERCY CHILL  _ he thought to himself. He carefully turned around and waved.

“Hey Peter! Long time no see?” Percy asked with a laugh. 

“I know, but my class is leaving tomorrow and I wanted to try this before I leave for a few weeks. Never give up an opportunity to learn from the master, right?”   
“He’s right, I am the master,” Natasha walked in and smirked at Percy. “You know, I could teach you a few things, too. I imagine you’re not as... bendy... as Peter is, but we can work on that,” then she turned to Peter and pulled him over to the training mats to work on thigh-crushing. 

With all the talk of Peter’s thighs and general flexibility, Percy was feeling a bit hot under the collar, but he had an old man to fight. He cleared his throat and turned back to Clint. 

“Shortswords are pretty cool, though. One-handed combat is an option. My friend has a gladius and that is super cool but it’s a bit too long for me. Like, I’m a tall dude but my friend Jason has these long chimpanzee arms so it just expands his wingspan. It slaps... Aaand I’m getting off topic. Let’s just go at it. Start easy. First person on their backs loses. Gentleman’s rules. I won’t play dirty until I know you can reciprocate. Kay?” Percy asked, and when Clint nodded he teasingly added an: “En garde.”

“Let’s dance pretty boy,” Clint smirked at Percy and raised his sword.

Honestly, it was too easy. Percy was sure Clint was fucking with him. Sure, he wasn’t used to the shortsword, but he was used to combat. It took Percy less than four minutes to knock the man off his feet.

“Why do I get the feeling I’m being hustled?” Percy asked when he reached his hand out to help Clint up. 

“I just wanted to test the waters, we can go for real now,” and he attacked. And boy, did he attack. Percy was out of breath. He felt like he was moving a mile a minute, stabbing, slashing, and parrying his way around the room. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to knock Clint off his feet, so he tried to go for a different kind of ending move. It took a bit of maneuvering, but he ended up getting Clint in a headlock with the side of his sword held against the older man’s throat. 

“Checkmate,” Percy panted, and Clint tapped out. “That was awesome,” Percy exclaimed and went to high five Clint, who raised an eyebrow but slapped his hand anyway. 

“Good fight, kid. You got me there. We’ll go one more time and then I am going to help you out with weightlifting. You’ve got the swimmer bod thing going on, and that works for using melee weapons, but for things like a trident, a longsword, or other larger weapons, you’ll want to bulk up those arms some. You won’t always have perfectly balanced weapons at the ready and you’ll need to be ready for anything,” Clint explained before standing at the ready for another match. Percy nodded before readying himself as well.

That time Clint got the better of Percy, catching him off guard with a fake-out and knocking him off his feet. Though, Percy was still happy to have won twice out of three times.

___________

Percy hated weightlifting. For several reasons. 

1) He had a perfect view of Peter doing acrobatics and flinging himself around the room like a graceful gymnast. Trying not to be attracted to Peter and catch feelings for him was getting harder by the moment.

2) Weightlifting was a very static activity and Percy’s ADHD was making it very hard to concentrate on one thing at a time. He was lucky to have a spotter in Clint because he almost dropped the bar on his chest a few times. It was boring.

3) Clint was pushing Percy’s strength limits and it was  _ hard.  _ Percy was used to training others and fighting those with lesser skills, mostly working at maintaining his own strength and agility, not increasing them. He would be sore in the morning.

However, Percy liked weightlifting for one reason. And he was only a little bit ashamed that he was happy about it.

1) He’d caught Peter staring at his biceps. 


	26. Chapter 26

Week One

Monday

Peter would be leaving for Europe pretty soon and Percy already missed him. He’d been such a large part of Percy’s life the past few weeks.

He’d waited in the common living room while Percy had his first counseling session the night before (Sam just explained his schedule and how they would be working on a treatment plan, nothing too deep), and stayed for the group dinner. Darcy made homemade pizza for everyone and there was no surprise visit from Poseidon (though they had worked out their differences for the moment, Percy was still a bit fired up about his dad not contacting him after Tartarus). 

This morning Percy had hand to hand combat training with Bucky, who was currently teaching Percy how to spin a knife in his hands to change the angle of stabbing. It was dope as hell, but Percy wasn’t used to knives and had cut himself on several occasions.

Like right now.

“Aw, man,” Percy sighed as he cut his hand again. “I can’t believe you’ve done this,” he whispered to himself in a British accent, staring at his hand accusingly.

“So can you just dip your hands in water and heal them? How does that work?” Bucky asked.

“I have to think about it, and it usually only works on topical wounds, but yeah. Having nectar or ambrosia would be better because it doesn’t use up energy, but water will work just fine.”

“Good, because your hands are a bloody mess and you’re going to have to fix that before we get to knife throwing,” Bucky chuckled at Percy’s excited face.

“Knife throwing?” Percy gasped. “Sick. But, uh,” he paused. “I’m not like... super great at distance weapons. Bow and arrows are a no go for me, and I am bad at darts. So, we’ll see how this goes.” He rushed to rinse his hands with the water in his water bottle and prepped for KNIFE THROWING THAT IS SO COOL. 

He paused when his starkpad pinged at him. Tony had figured out non-wifi messaging, so Percy could message his mom and Peter (and Nico when he was safely in the Underworld). He’d received a message from Peter!

_ We’re boarding the plane now! _

And another message.

_ Oh God, Ned told the teach that I’m allergic to perfume so now I’m sitting next to said teach _

What, why?

Percy messaged him exactly that:  _ What? Why? _

Peter’s response was brief:  _ Long story. We’re taking off! TTYL _

Percy sighed. It would be a long few weeks.

____________

“Tell me about the Battle of Manhattan,” Sam was sitting across from Percy, who was fidgeting with the little plastic contraption Sam called a ‘fidget cube’ (he was thankful for it, ADHD and sitting still and talking about the same thing for an hour... Ugh.)

“It started when kids started getting upset that the gods weren’t claiming them and were making us fight their battles. Claiming is like when you don’t know who your godly parent is, and they make an official “you’re my kid” sign without actually showing up. For me it was a glowing trident above my head, for my friend who is a daughter of Aphrodite it was a super magical makeover. It depends. But kids weren’t being claimed so they were all cramped in the Hermes cabin, he takes in strays,” and Percy told him how Luke’s side came to fruition, and how he had gotten everyone on his side and the deal with Kronos. “When I got to camp, Luke was my mentor, the person I most looked up to. Then he tried to kill me. More than once,” Percy sighed. “That’s how the Battle of Manhattan started. The gods being irresponsible and Kronos poisoning the minds of troubled demigods. I’m lucky because I’m my dad’s only demigod child so he took really well to me and tries to see me. Not many others are as lucky. Luke got a lot of people on his side and he let Kronos take over his body. I was only able to stop him by...” he sighed and looked down. “By killing Luke.”

Sam’s lips were pursed tightly as he listened to the story. “So that’s a whole lot to unpack. You said you weren’t claimed until you were twelve. You didn’t know you were a demigod until then?”   
“No, but my mom did. It’s why she was with my stepdad,” Percy frowned at the thought of Smelly Gabe.

“Tell me about that?” Percy huffed out a dark laugh.

“Smelly Gabe. Had a penchant for gambling and throwing fists. Great guy.”

“So, unless you willingly want to continue, that’s our hour. I want to go over a quic plan for the next few days. Sound good?” Percy nodded. “Okay so we’re going to see each other once a day at this time on weekdays. Weekends you’re free of me unless you have some sort of mental emergency. You have my phone number if you need anything any day of the week. Tomorrow we’re going to start from the beginning. Because obviously your issues don’t stem just from demigod business. We’ll start with Gabe.”

Percy nodded again.

“Um... Thank you,” Percy bit his lip. “For helping.”

“It’s not a problem kid, now get outta here and do something. It’s still early afternoon,” Sam shooed him with a smile and Percy took off happily.

_____________

Percy spent most of his afternoon swimming and waiting on Peter to answer him. From what Percy could tell (though his knowledge of time zones was limited) it was 4 in the afternoon in New York, so it meant it would be 10 at night in Venice. Peter would be arriving soon...

Percy sighed. He had to stop thinking about Peter. Surely people didn’t think about just friends that much. Even when he (briefly) dated Annabeth she wasn’t on his mind this much. And what’s worse... Well, there were several things that were bad. First, Percy didn’t even know if Peter liked guys. Second, Percy didn’t even know if Peter was interested in him (the incident with the biceps aside). Third, and this was the big one, Peter was too good and pure and wholesome for someone as messed up as Percy to corrupt.

Percy sighed again. His best bet at romance was another demigod because then he wouldn’t be the only murderer in the relationship.

He was floating on his back when Clint walked in.

“What’s crackalackin?” Percy called. 

“Just checking in. You had your first counseling session today and none of us have seen you since then,” he said as he sat on a pool chair and closed his eyes.

“I’m alright. Still feel weird about counseling but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?” Percy sighed and closed his eyes again.

“They made me see a counselor after Loki fried my brain. I didn’t like it. Made me feel weak. Like even though my body was in perfect physical shape, my mind wasn’t sharp enough and I was’t trusted to be on missions for a while.”

“That sounds like a struggle. How long did you have to see someone?”

“A couple months, but I didn’t have magic soul sucking happening on top of it so I doubt it’ll be that long for you.”

“I don’t know, Sam wants to start from the beginning, from before I even knew about demigods, so it might be a bit.”

“Ah, that’s alright. You’ll come out better and stronger.”

Percy hummed in agreement, but splashed out of his relaxed pose when his Starkpad beeped. He sped over to the side of the pool and clicked on the message.

“Peter just got to Venice and is hanging out with Ned. Nice,” Percy typed out a quick reply, telling him to tell Ned he said hi, and looked up to see Clint’s raised eyebrows and mirthful eyes staring down at him. Percy sighed. “Stop thinking whatever you’re thinking.”

“I’m not thinking about anything! Just observing. That’s what I do. I watch. Hawkeye,” he squinted his eyes and put his hand above his eyes like he was looking for something far away. “And what I am observing is a little crush on our baby spider.” Percy narrowed his eyes and willed a wave of water to well up and hang over Clint’s head.

“Take it back.”

“Hah! No take-backsies!” And Percy let the water drop. Clint sputtered as water dripped off of him. “No fair!”

“If you say anything to anyone,  _ especially _ Tony or Peter, you’ll have a lot more trouble than wet clothes.”

“Was that a threat Mister Johnson?”

“Look, Clinton. I can’t date Peter, so I’m pretending I don’t like him. And I would appreciate it if you would allow me to live in denial. If you don’t let it go, you’re bringing your own destruction upon yourself.”

“Definitely a threat, better hope I don’t tell Steve,” Clint winked and ran out of the room, laughing at Percy’s displeasure.

Ugh! 


	27. Chapter 27

Week One 

Tuesday

Percy was barely awake as he walked towards the training room. Today he was meant to train with Clint again. But, as he entered the room, there was nobody there.

“Hello?” He called. No answer. 

He decided to check the rest of the communal floor to see if perhaps Clint was on his way from the kitchen. On his way to the kitchen he saw Clint and Natasha watching the news in the living room.

“What’s going on?” Percy asked.

“Some kind of water monster attacked Venice,” Clint replied. “Fury is on it so we’re benched. Says it’s not worth the Avengers making even more damage and he needs stealth.”

“Peter is in Venice,” Percy murmured to himself.

“That’s what fury means by stealth. We think,” Natasha deadpanned. “He’s going to ruin Peter’s trip.”

“Well, not much we can do from here. Ready to train Water Boy?” Clint sighed and hopped over the back of the couch to start pulling Percy by the arm towards the training room. “We’re going to try archery!”

“Oh man. That is a bad idea. You don’t know how many kids I’ve sent to the infirmary...” he trailed off, thinking about Peter’s trip and how he would have to be working on his own to defeat a water monster. Percy could help! He dealt specifically in water!

“Don’t even think about it, kid. Fury would kill all of us if an unknown enhanced kid suddenly showed up in Italy. Parker can handle it,” Clint brought Percy over to the shooting range. “Now, show me what you’ve got and then we can work on technique.”

Over the next hour Percy shot the ground about fourteen times, the ceiling thrice, the target four times, and other random places among the wall countless times. 

“Okaaay, so archery is a no. Let’s try other kinds of shooting. We’ll try the gun range.”

“I’m telling you, distance weapons are not my thing. I’m no sniper, and I really don’t want to use a gun,” Percy bit at his lip. “Look, all of these other weapons I can justify to myself will help me in demigod affairs, but using a gun... I would never use that against demigods or monsters. The thought that I would have the intent to kill or seriously injure a human-” he shuddered. “Please, no guns.”

“I hear ya, but also consider: it’s fun.”

“Okay, what? Going to the beach is fun. Playing capture the flag is fun. Weapons training is not fun. I enjoy training, it’s a great exercise and I need to hone my skills, but what about that screams fun to you?”

“You’ve just got to try it,” Clint grinned at him and started his lesson.

_________

Percy had to admit. Shooting a pistol was  _ thrilling _ . It was so much power and it really was a good way to let out stress. He just hoped he would never actually have to use one.

After their lesson, Clint let Percy train with the simulator for a while. It was nice not having to pull his punches and not being afraid to decapitate his opponent. It was more realistic. 

That, however, was abruptly ended when Peter messaged Percy.

_ Nick Fury hijacked my trip and is sending us to Prague. _

Percy wrote:  _ Please tell me you’re not going to fight a water monster by yourself. _

_ It’s a fire monster this time. I could really use a waterbender to help ;) _

Percy chuckled. He and Peter had thoroughly enjoyed watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. He wrote:  _ You know if you say the word I’ll be there in a day. _

And he meant it. But that was when Peter said:  _ I don’t even know if Nick Fury knows about you, it’s probably a bad idea. He gave me a stealth suit so I won’t be recognized as Spiderman. Plus I already told Nick Fury I didn’t want to help and he forced my hand. So... _

Percy typed back:  _ Okay but seriously let me know. Or at least let Happy know. I know he’s always watching you.  _

_ Okay, I promise. GTG, arriving.  _

Percy typed a quick goodbye and sighed. Peter was in trouble and the Avengers were benched. And Percy would be perfect to help fight a fire monster. Fire and water? Boom, dead.

When he showed up to his afternoon counseling session, he was  _ not _ in the mood. He was busy thinking about ways to go to Europe and help Peter. 

“You look distracted,” Sam raised an eyebrow at him questioningly.

“Yeah, lots going on. One of the only people that I regularly hang out with is in extreme danger and I’m not allowed to help,” Percy slouched into his chair with a frown.

“Looking for a fight?”

“Never. Just want Peter to be safe,” Percy sighed and rolled his eyes. “That’s enough of that. I’d rather get into the counseling.”

“You’d rather talk about your abusive stepfather than your feelings for Peter?”

“I don’t have feelings for Peter,” Percy pursed his lips. “Other than friendship. And I care whether he lives or dies. Also I don’t want his school trip to be completely ruined. He deserved a normal life.”

“Those are all valid feelings. I won’t push. But this means you’ll willingly tell me about Gabe Ugliano?”

“Sure, if it gets me out of this. But first you have to know why he was in our life. My mom knew I was a demigod, and monsters can smell demigods from long distances. Some of us are found young, like Annabeth and Thalia, but my mom knew she could protect me for longer if she blocked my scent. Enter Smelly Gabe. His actual stench covered mine enough to protect me from monsters until I was twelve,” Percy shrugged. “So he was there for a reason, but he was a crappy guy.”

“How does it make you feel that he was there for a good reason?”

“I was mad at my mom for a while that she let him treat us like that, and when I found out why he was there, I was angry for a while. I figured I would have been better off if the monsters had found me and I knew about my heritage. But that’s not right, she did the best she could,” Percy sighed. “For some reason I’m still upset. I guess it’s maybe that she put me through all that (even if for a good reason) and then threw me to the wolves when my powers were lashing out and left me here the first time. I wouldn’t call it abandonment issues, but she worked so hard to keep me last time no matter the sacrifices she had to make. What’s different now?”

“I think I understand why you’re feeling that way, and I know you know it was all for your protection, but these are still valid feelings. It’s okay to be upset. Especially when you had to deal with someone who was hurting you,” Sam’s voice was soft, and Percy appreciated it. 

“He was hurting my mom, too. Usually I could direct his rage towards myself but not always. Real stand up guy,” he huffed a dark laugh. “Right before I found out I was a demigod he shoved me up against the wall by my throat and called me a delinquent. Not as bad as the other beatings but my buddy Grover saw what was happening so that was embarrassing.”

“Why were you embarrassed?”

“Because I let it happen. I didn’t fight back. I mean I used to, but it just meant more beatings or verbal abuse towards me and my mom. So I just stopped fighting. But I didn’t expect anybody to see it.”

“Is that why you’re always fighting so hard now?”

“Maybe. It’s also because I have to. When the world is at stake and you’re the one chosen one, you have to save it,” he shrugged”

“Why?”

“Because I’m one of the morons that lives on it,” this time he let out a real chuckle, and Sam even joined in.

“Man, kids these days. You have too many responsibilities. You’re too young to be this old and wise.”

“Oh trust me, if you hear any of my stories from anyone else’s point of view, you’ll think I’m a lunatic. The thing is, they make sense at the time! Like, when I slayed Medusa by cutting off her head when I was twelve (it was part of a long quest), I put the head in a box and mailed it to the gods on Olympus-” he was cut off by Sam’s choked laughter.

“You’ll have to tell that whole story to Bucky. He’ll love it.”

“Or this one time-” he was cut off by his starkpad. “Sorry, I know it’s supposed to be off but it might be Peter in an emergency.”

“Go ahead,” Sam waved his hand and Percy looked down.

_ Nick Fury knows about you.  _

“Oh shit. Nick Fury knows I’m here and he knows who I am.”

“I’m not super surprised. The man is an enigma,” Sam stated dryly.

_ He wants you to come to Germany _

Percy typed out a quick:  _ Germany, why? _

_ TLDR: I thought a bad guy was a good guy and now the world is at stake. Also MJ knows about Spiderman. Bad stuff. _

_ Should you call the Avengers? _

_ NO! Mister Stark will skin me alive.  _

_ What can I do? _

_ Gotta go! Fury calling! _

“Oh man.”

“Bad news?” Sam questioned.

“Nope! Nothing to worry about!” Percy exclaimed with a little laugh.

“That sounds suspicious,” Sam stated with both eyebrows raised.

“No way! I just said oh man becaaaaause...” he paused. “Because I like Peter as more than a friend and I think he’s interested in this girl MJ. Yup, that’s it!” Percy laughed nervously and slipped out of the room.

Sam pulled out his phone to shoot a text to Steve.

_ Something’s wrong about the situation in Europe, and Fury isn’t calling the Avengers. _

_ What?  _ Came the quick reply.

_ Percy knows something, but he won’t tell me. _

_ How do you know that? _

_ He just willingly told me about his personal romantic feelings instead of discussing it. _

_ I’ll call Tony _


	28. Chapter 28

Week One

Wednesday

“Knock knock Wilson!”

Percy groaned and pulled his pillow over his head. What the actual fuck was Tony doing in his room at five in the morning? And really? A Tom Hanks Reference? Castaway wasn’t even really a water reference.

“I see you hiding,” the voice was closer. Tony was definitely in his room.

“Whaddaya want,” Percy grunted.

“Just thought you should know Peter is in trouble. He called Happy for help, but won’t give me details. Says Nick Fury is handling it,” a sigh followed the statement. “He must have messed up big time if he’s hiding it from me. So, I’m sending you with Happy to fetch him. I know he can handle it on his own, but if he’s going to fight a fire monster, I may as well send a water monster at him.”

“I take offense at being called a monster,” Percy tossed the pillow away and scratched his head as he sat up in bed, his camp t-shirt clinging to his body. His nightmare had him sweating. “But, I’ll happily help. When are we leaving and what do I need to bring?”

“Just yourself. Maybe a spare change of clothes. You’re leaving as soon as you can. Peter apparently just broke out of jail in the Netherlands and is wandering around town. That’s all I know.”

“Oh my gods. Okay, gimme ten minutes,” Percy rushed over to shower and packed a pair of clothes, what light armor would fit, and the imperial gold dagger he had under his pillow into a backpack. (Luckily, imperial gold would work on mortals, unlike Riptide.)

________________

“I didn’t tell Tony because he would flip out,” Happy stated from the front of the jet. “But I thought you might want to know the details. I don’t know a lot because the phones could be bugges, but Peter definitely got hit by a train and is severely injured. You can grab the first aid kit out of the back and have it ready for when we get him. It will only be another half hour,” Percy blanched at Happy’s words. 

“Hit by a train?” he gulped.

“Pushed in front of, actually.” 

Percy’s vision faded around the edges as he tried to control his rage.

“Someone pushed Peter in front of a train?”

“He’ll be fine, his enhanced healing kept him alive until now, we just have to patch him up and get him ready to fight the big baddie. Tony _ should _ be here but it could be an international political disaster, so stealth is needed. Peter has a stealth suit and you are relatively unknown... And underdressed. Do you have a suit? Do you even suit up?”

“I have a chestplate, arm guards, and a dagger... It will do. I’ve fought worse battles in less.”

“I hate that.”

“Same.”

“Okay, we’re descending. Strap in kid,” Percy waited anxiously. The whole flight was nerve wracking, Zeus’ territory and all, but Happy kept him talking and busy which was unexpected but appreciated. Nonetheless, Percy was thankful to be touching down. 

When Happy helped a limping Peter into the jet, Percy surged out of his seat and came face to face with Peter.

“Oh my gods, Peter what happened to you?” Percy’s hands fluttered about Peter’s face, afraid to touch the hurting boy, but needing to confirm he was alive.

“Percy,” Peter whispered. “You’re here.”

“Of course I’m here, what else was I going to do when you got hit by a train?” Percy thought  _ fuck it _ and very gently wrapped Peter up in a hug, trying to be as careful as possible. “I was so worried.”

“He’s gonna need stitches, you should probably let go now,” Happy cleared his throat after and gestured to the first aid kit. “Then you can get ready for Beck,” Percy let go and frowned. Happy had told him about Beck and EDITH. He had to admit Peter had messed up, but he couldn’t blame him for trusting Beck. It was like with Luke. 

Percy sighed and sat down in front of Peter as Happy pulled out the needle.

Peter was grasping onto Percy’s hands with a crushing grip while he was being stitched up, but he didn’t make a single noise. Percy rubbed his thumb over Peter’s hand as Happy tied off the stitches and didn’t let go until everything was bandaged up and Peter was ready to stand.

“Thank you. The both of you. But what do I do now? I don’t have a suit, I don’t have a plan, and Nick Fury isn’t a huge help,” Peter sighed.

“I think I can help with at least one of those things,” Happy smiled and pressed a button that opened a back wall to what must have been some kind of portable nanotech lab for Tony.

“Whoa,” Peter gasped, and he got to work making a new suit.

____________________

They had to fly to London. Percy was just about done with flying. He couldn’t handle much more. Especially when they hit turbulence and Happy called back to them that they were about to enter a storm.

“ I pray to you, O god of the lightning, god of the wild winds, grant to us your blessing, grant to us your favor, grant to us your good will. O kind-hearted Zeus, I pray to you, keep from us the terror of the storm,” Percy kept murmuring the prayer under his breath, hoping Zeus would take it as a sign of good faith, that Percy had forgiven him and was asking for safe passage. It was all he could do to try not to freak out.

“It’ll be okay, Percy. He hasn’t attacked you in the air yet and you’ve been flying all day,” Peter smiled from beside Percy, knocking his knee against the other teen’s. 

“You can never be too careful. Jason and Nico don’t go in the ocean. Me and Jason (under normal circumstances) don’t go to the Underworld, and me and Nico do  _ not _ go in the air,” he shuddered, thinking of the Argo II. That was rough. “It’s more of a polite thing for my dad and Hades because they’re both pretty chill, but Zeus can be more... temperamental,” a shaking boom of thunder clapped after Percy basically insulted his uncle and he blanched. 

“Maybe you shouldn’t talk about him while we’re in here, then,” Peter smiled softly, trying to calm the other boy down. 

“Yeah, yeah. Not a bad idea,” Percy sighed and closed his eyes, but jumped when another bolt of lightning lit up the insides of his eyelids. He started whispering nearly silently again. “I pray to you, O god of the lightning...”


	29. Chapter 29

“We’ll be in London soon, Peter. Do you want to talk about... Beck... before we have to go fight him? I don’t want you to be unprepared because you’re overthinking,” Percy sat across from Peter and crossed his legs under himself.

“I guess... It’s just hard. I have these great male role models and bad things happen. Beck turned out to be a bad guy, Mister Stark is a whole mess, and my Uncle Ben...” he trailed off and bit his lip. 

“What did happen to your uncle?” Percy prodded.

“It was my fault that he died, Percy,” Peter looked down. “I let a robber get away. I couldn’t catch all of them. It was right after I’d gotten my powers and I wasn’t as good at it. But I let one get away and I thought it would be fine,” he sighed. “Since I didn’t let him rob the bank he ended up robbing a pedestrian on the street... My uncle. He... he killed my uncle,” Peter inhaled a shaky breath. “I was furious. Aunt May was too young for that to happen to her, so was my uncle. And after my parents died I just couldn’t lose another family member.”

“Peter it’s not your fault,” Percy’s voice was soothing, and he reached a hand across to squeeze Peter’s knee in comfort. “You did your best.”

“I hadn’t done my best. But I figured if I found that one guy and put him away I would get some satisfaction. Anything to get justice for Ben,” he choked on his own words and took a moment before continuing. “But when I found him, he was robbing another man about the same age as Ben and I couldn’t see straight. It was like all of my senses were screaming at me. And they’re already enhanced, so you can imagine my stress,” he chuckled and looked up into Percy’s eyes with tears in his own. At Percy’s nod he kept speaking. “I caught him and let the guy run off, so I was alone with him and I... I crushed his neck with one hand. Super strength, you know? But I... I killed him. And I don’t regret it. I knew he was a killer. But I just keep losing these role models and it’s always something horrible. And I always turn out worse.With Uncle Ben I turned into a killer. With Beck I nearly went crazy. I couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t. When I see him next it will be hard...” He sighed. “This whole experience has been a bit of a mess, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah, it has,” Percy whispered and moved across to sit next to Peter and pull him into a side hug. “It will work out this time, Peter. You have Happy and me, and you know Ned and MJ and May have your back always. The Peter Parker Protection Squad takes itself very seriously, you know?” Percy felt a bit lighter when he got Peter to laugh. “I made us t-shirts.” Another laugh. “You might think I’m kidding but Happy and May already have theirs, and I have Ned’s and MJ’s in my backpack. Also,” Percy unzipped his camp hoodie to show he was wearing one himself. 

“You are absolutely ridiculous,” Peter laughed and leaned into the hug. “Thanks for this.”

“Anytime, Peter. Anytime.”

___________________

“Okay, walk me through it,” Percy stood across from Peter, armor on and dagger in hand.

“I know his illusion tech, right? All I have to do is get on the inside of the illusion. Then I can take it down, find him, and he’s just a guy, so I can take EDITH right back.,” Peter responded.

“Right, but remember, last time you got hit by a train,” Happy commented.

“True. But. This time... I have like a sixth sense,” Peter was cut off by Percy’s “Dope” and Happy’s “The Peter Tingle?”

“Wait, the  _ what _ ?” Percy asked.

“The Peter Tingle. He has like a sixth sense,” Happy nodded at himself, like he was sharing something top secret.

“Don’t call it that,” Peter hissed.

“I want to put in a vote for Spidey Sense,” Percy noted.

“That’s actually ... Actually it’s not terrible. I’ll think about it,” Peter shook his head. “It’s sort of working temperamentally right now but I think it will work out.”

“Okay so that’s the plan. Peter tingle. Percy and I will pick up your friends. You keep an eye on the suit,” he nodded towards the still forming suit.

“Oh god,” Peter sighed.

“Don’t worry. The Spidey Sense will have your back. And so will I once I help with your friends. We’ve got this,” Percy clapped a hand onto Peter’s shoulder and followed Happy.

“So,” he called once he’d caught up. “We drop Peter in, I help you with the school kids, and then I go help Peter?”

“You got it, kid, now strap in.”

______________________

Once they’d dropped Peter into the swirling mass of stormclouds, they touched down and Peter ran out with Happy to meet the kids.

“I gotta get you guys out of here, get on the jet!” Happy shouted at the four kids. It was Ned, MJ, Eugene, and a girl he hadn’t met before.

“Percy?” Ned asked. “Oh man this must be bad,” he clenched the girl’s hand beside him.

“Get on the jet! Then I can go help Spiderman!” He ignored the question. 

“Wait, who is he? How do you know each other?” MJ shouted.

“I work with Spiderman! He’s friends with Spiderman! We’re here to help!”

“Wait, you work for SPIDERMAN?” Eugene exclaimed. 

“I work with Spiderman, not for him!” Happy explained.

“Now is not the time!” Percy shouted at him right as a deafening  _ BOOM _ sounded from behind them, causing them to look behind and see the demolished jet in flames. 

“New plan!” Percy shouted.

“Get inside the tower!” Happy finished and started herding the kids towards it.

“Oh man, oh man, oh man,” Percy muttered under his breath. At this rate, he’d never get to Peter.


	30. Chapter 30

“Into the crown jewels vault!” Happy started herding the kids inside but Percy paused.

“This is where I leave you. I have to go help Spiderman,” he gestured to the door. “The rest of you go on.”

“Fuck that!” MJ reached out and gripped Percy’s arm in an iron-tight grasp, and he was surprised enough to allow her to pull him into the room with them. It didn’t even occur to him until after that he could easily break her grip.

“But what about -” He looked over his shoulder and saw the drone following them.

“Take cover!” He shouted and pulled MJ behind a suit of armor. He looked to his side and put his finger to his lips before handing her the mace. He, in return, took her water bottle and formed an ice shield with the water inside. 

When Ned and his lady friend knocked over a suit of armor to draw the drone’s attention, MJ (very heroically, Percy thought) smashed it with the mace as Happy ushered them all into the vault.

“Happy I can’t stay!” he shouted while blocking shots with his shield.

“Get in the vault Perseus!” He screamed back and yanked him by the arm into the vault before pulling the door shut.

“What the shit Happy? How am I supposed to help when I’m locked in an eight feet thick vault?” Percy screeched.

“You’re better off here protecting us than dead. How did you even make an ice shield hard enough to block those shots?” MJ asked.

“I learned a few tricks while I was... away. I once was dipped in the Styx, so I have the ability to create Stygian ice. It comes in handy when I need to call my dog.”

“Your dog is not important at a time like this!” The blonde yelled at him.

“Who are you?” He looked around. “Who is she?”

“This is my girlfriend, Betty. Betty, this is Percy. He’s a superhero,’ Ned introduced them.

“Hi Betty, I’m not a superhero.”

“I heard Happy call you Perseus, like after the Greek hero?”

“Sort of,” Percy replied. “But now is the time to call my dog. This place is pretty shadowy, it should work.” Percy formed a whistle out of his stygian ice shield. “Everybody gather in the far corner. Happy, where will we be safe?”

“At... At Stark Tower, but I can’t leave Peter.”

“I’ll bring you back with me.” And with that, Percy blew the whistle.

______________________

Suddenly, the rest of the vault was filled with hellound fur.

“Mrs. O’Leary! I missed you girl!” Percy hugged her giant neck and nuzzled his face into her fur. “Guys, this is my pet hellhound. She’s going to take us to safety. Everyone hold onto me, okay?” He felt several pairs of hands on him before thinking hard on his destination and signalling for Mrs. O’Leary to shadow-travel them there.

It was dark, and cold, but a moment later they were in Stark Tower.

“Let go, let go. You’re safe. Not you, Happy. You hold on,” Percy shadow travelled back to London right outside the vault, and with a flick of his wrist, the rest of his water infiltrated the drone and short-circuited it.

“Okay, Happy-” He turned back and MJ was standing there, too. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I want to help,” she crossed her arms and grabbed the mace again.

“It’s too dangerous for a mortal,” Percy argued. “You two stay here. I’m going to help.”

WIth that, he ran out and saw Peter get hit with a blast of energy and get smashed between two cars and crash into the water. 

“Fuck.”

Percy controlled the water and lifted Peter bodily out of it before throwing himself and Peter behind a pile of rubble.

“You look like shit,” Percy said at the same time Peter looked down and clenched his fingers. 

“Great. No webs.”

“No- Peter what are you going to do without webs?”

“I can... I can...” Peter looked around and even with the mask, Percy could practically see the gears whirring in his head. He watched as Peter fashioned his own Mjolnir and shield out of scraps and the Tower Bridge sign. 

“You never cease to amaze me, Spiderman,” Percy smiled and gathered his own powers. “Before you go out and do something dangerous, at least let me get rid of some of them.” 

At Peter’s nod, Percy felt the tug in his gut as he pulled at the giant mass of water and grunted as he stared over the rubble, causing a giant tidal wave to crash over hundreds of drones, throwing them back into the water and effectively drowning them.

“Okay, now go,” Percy smirked at Peter. “I’ve got your back.”

He watched as Peter ran towards the drones and started taking out as many as he could with water.

“Take that!” He shouted as he crashed another wave down on a dozen drones. “Drown fuckers!” He laughed and looked up to see Peter explode another couple dozen drones in one go. “You go you funky little spider.”

Peter finally got to Beck and neutralized the drones for a moment, allowing Percy to go on a bot-killing spree by drowning as many as he could. But when he looked up, there was an illusion happening up on the bridge and he knew Peter was in trouble. Percy created an ice surfboard and used a spout of water to propel himself up and onto the bridge, coming in (luckily) behind Beck and being able to see the illusion from behind the scenes. 

But before he could do anything, Peter closed his eyes and started taking the drones out one by one. 

_ Fuck yeah Spidey Sense! _ Percy thought to himself. 

“Why aren’t these drones firing?” Beck asked the machine before screaming at it to fire all the drones. With wide eyes, Percy stepped forward and got Beck in a tight headlock, his knife out and at the man’s throat.

“Take that back,” he growled in his ear as Peter stabbed a drone.

“Who the fuck are you?” Beck struggled in vain to escape the demigod’s grasp. Though, the man grunted and dropped as a bullet went straight through him... And Percy. His armor had shifted in the fight and the bullet that went through Beck had lodged in Percy’s side. He immediately let go of the man and clenched his eyes shut for a moment to control the pain.

He groaned and moved his armor back in place before destroying more of the drones with water as Peter approached the two of them, Beck now laying on the ground off to the side.

He watched from the side as the two exchanged words and - it was only then that Percy noticed Beck had moved way farther away than would be normal if he had been shot. He looked to the side as Peter broke the illusion and shoved the loaded gun away from his head. Percy could see the tears in his eyes. It must be so hard for him- he clenched his teeth as another wave of pain hit him. 

Beck fell to the floor and Peter called for the drones to disperse and deweaponize. Percy sighed.

“I’m going to go get Happy and MJ,” he notified his friend and made his way back down to ground level and left the two to their last words. Peter deserved the closure.


	31. Chapter 31

Percy found Happy pretty quickly, but he was sans-MJ.

“Where did she-” Percy wasn’t even done when Happy pointed toward the girl running over to an unmasked Peter and hugging the life out of him. He watched for another moment, the pain in his side dulling as he felt a tightening sensation in his lungs, like he couldn’t get enough air in. 

He swallowed thickly as MJ kissed Peter and he knew it was a possibility Peter liked MJ. He had meant what he said to Sam that day in counseling. 

He excused himself and walked away from Happy after he saw Peter kiss MJ. He guessed those feelings were reciprocated.

“Stupid, stupid,” he whispered to himself. “Stupid Seaweed Brain having feelings for people who don’t feel the same way back. Getting your stupid feelings hurt,” he groaned in pain, both physical and emotional, and leaned against a wall as he tried to control the blood in his body to eject the bullet. Using water to heal the wound was too risky considering the bullet was still inside him. 

“I think he’s been shot,” the voice sounded sort of far away and he squinted his eyes open to see Happy coming towards him with Peter and MJ holding hands behind him.

“Isss fine,” he slurred and started pulling at the bullet with his own blood.

“Percy you’re making yourself bleed out faster,” Peter exclaimed and pulled Percy’s bloody hands away from his side, quickly removing his chestplate and lifting his shirt up.

“MJ I have a t-shirt for you!” Percy suddenly exclaimed. It seemed so important.

“A t-shirt?”

“For the Peter Parker Protection Ssssquad,” he struggled to focus and the word came out of his mouth slowly. It was nice hearing her laugh though. 

“Tell me, who else is in it?”

“Ned, Aunt May, Happy, and myself,” he smiled, but it was so dark. Why was it dark? Oh.

Percy pried his own eyelids open slowly. His eyes had been closed.

“Happy, we need to get him to water,” Peter’s voice was soft and Percy could barely hear him. 

“We can’t, the wound will heal with the bullet still inside him.”

“This is my fault, oh man,” Peter whispered. Or shouted. Percy wasn’t sure. His fingers were cold though.

“I might be the first demigod ever to be shot with a real bullet and not like... an arrow,” the thought was amusing. He was also probably the dumbest demigod ever to be meddling in mortal affairs.

“You’re not dumb, Perce,” Peter reassured him. Has he said that out loud? Oh well. Just him and his stupid Seaweed Brain. 

“Isn’t that what Annabeth calls you? You’ll have to stay awake so you can see her again,” Peter urged him. “You have to stay awake, Percy. Happy is going to get help and he’ll be back soon.”

Percy looked around. He hadn’t even noticed that Happy had left him alone with the lovebirds. 

His vision was getting dark around the edges and he started to see black dots.

“The occipital lobe is the first lobe of the brain to lose blood when you’re about to faint,” Percy stated. He remembered reading that somewhere after Annabeth had fainted once. 

“What?”

“The eyeballs are connected to the occipital lobe.”

“Percy what are you talking about?” Peter was worried.

“Are my eyes open or is it just dark?”

“That doesn’t make sense. But yes, your eyes are open.”

“But it’s dark. Which means my occipital lobe has lost a lot of blood.”

“Percy you’re saying very scientific things and it’s honestly a little concerning. It’s not like you.”

“I’m going to pass out soon,” Percy’s fingers and toes were so cold and his vision was fading in and out. He heard a rushing in his ears. It sounded like the ocean and he suddenly felt very nostalgic. 

“I miss the beach,” he sighed and closed his eyes.

“We can go to the beach soon, I promise. Happy will be here soon,” Peter’s voice sounded like it was underwater as well. 

“Happy? I’m not happy.”

“That’s not what I meant, Percy. Happy Hogan. The person.”

“Happiness is a butterfly,” Percy sang softly. Man did he love Lana Del Rey. “I love Lana Del Rey.”

“Happy! Come quick! He’s still awake!” Peter was suddenly very loud and Percy laughed at him.

“Awake? Bitch I might be.”

He didn’t even notice when he lost consciousness. Everything was already so dark and so quiet. It was more like falling asleep.


	32. Chapter 32

“I just found out that my chiropractor thinks NASA’s fake. It’s a fact I couldn’t take, now my back’s about to break.”

“What the fuck kind of music is this?” Were the first words Percy groaned. He was alone in the room, and he couldn’t find the source of the speakers. The sterile whiteness was too bright and he shielded his eyes with one hand as he looked around for the phone or ipod that was playing this weird hipster stuff. 

“I bought a coffee but my name’s spelled wrong, I’m sick of listening to my favorite song. I’m losing followers and gaining weight, how much can I take?”

“Come on guys please I have no access to the outside world. I don’t have a phone or an ipod. I don’t even listen to the radio. Please tell me this isn’t what pop music sounds like now?” Percy called out. 

Nothing.

He was alone. He remembered Peter, MJ, and Happy finding him help. He was alive so that must mean that they’d gotten the bullet out of him. He looked down under the sheet and nodded at his cleanly bandaged side. So they had fixed that, awesome.

“Jesus Chriiiiiist. Give me a BREAK,” the song continued on.

“Jesus Christ give ME a break,” Percy shouted. “Turn this off!” 

“Sorry, sorry, sorry. I panicked and didn’t want you to wake up alone but I had to run to meet Mister Stark and I just plugged in MJ’s phone and put it on shuffle so you wouldn’t  _ feel _ alone you know? But I see now that was a bad idea because she has weird taste in music. She has weird taste in a lot of things really it’s quite interesting-”

“Peter shut up. You’re rambling. It’s okay. Just please turn it off,” Percy suddenly felt very heavy, like he hadn’t slept in ages and his body was giving up. 

“Right, sorry,” Peter huffed a laugh and tapped on the phone a few times before the music thankfully shut off.

“How long have I been here? Are we back at Stark Tower?” Percy groaned as he tried to sit up, but caught himself when he felt a sharp pain in his side.

“Whoa there,” Peter hurried over and grasped Percy’s shoulders as he slowly helped him recline back. It took another moment before he remembered himself enough to let go of the other boy. “It’s only been a few hours so you really shouldn’t move too much,” Peter coughed slightly and backed up a step. “MJ is talking to Mister Stark and Happy about some kind of debriefing, but I’m not allowed in so I assume it’s more of a top secret Spiderman shovel talk thing.”

“Shovel talk?” Percy forced himself to smile. “So, you and MJ?”

“That’s a thing now, yeah,” Percy’s smile turned genuine when he saw the small blush on Peter’s face. It would be good for him, having MJ. 

“Happy for you, dude. But please never subject me to her music ever again. Just steal Steve’s iPod. We have about the same general knowledge of modern music.”

“Message received,” Peter laughed, and to Percy it sounded almost... Tight. Insincere. 

Percy wasn’t by any means a genius. He would never be Peter or Annabeth. But he was also no Seaweed Brain. He was observant, he had to be in order to fight and think on his feet. And he was pretty sure Peter had feelings for him and now that he was with MJ he wasn’t sure how to act around Percy. Or how close to stand to him. Or how much physical touch was acceptable. Because Percy knew the two of them had a lot more ‘platonic’ and ‘casual’ touches than most regular guy friends. But Peter would be confused and Percy didn’t want to make him nervous or upset so he would go with it.

For now.

But between that jet ride with Happy and Peter and up until he saw Peter kiss MJ, he had realized a few things. Mainly that Peter wasn’t as perfectly innocent as Percy had originally thought, and therefore Percy couldn’t corrupt him. Second, he also realized that Peter was a perfectly capable young man, and even if he were perfectly innocent, he could handle himself. He was his own person and was able to make his own decisions. He could understand Percy and the superhero struggle. They were really similar in a lot of ways. Unfortunately MJ was now a factor, and Percy  _ liked _ her. He really enjoyed her presence whenever she was around him and Peter. She was like a weird mortal version of Nico. It was refreshing. 

Percy had just never expected her to be romantic competition.

_ WellI,  _ Percy thought,  _ Not much of a competition. She blew me out of the water in a very short amount of time. _

“Penny for your thoughts?” Percy hadn’t even noticed MJ enter the room. How long had he been lost in thought?

“Uh, mainly thinking about how I’m bleeding through the sheets,” Percy gestured at the growing red spot on the top sheet. He’d noticed the dull pain growing. He really shouldn’t have tried to sit up earlier. 

“Oh, shit. Let me go get someone,” Peter ran out and left Percy to this hella awkward situation. MJ rocked back on her heels and flattened her lips into a closed smile.

“So, swordfighting and superpowers?”

Percy choked on his own laughter.

“That’s where you want to start?”

“Why not? You’re bleeding and probably in pain. I usually enjoy awkward silences but you look like you need a distraction,” she raised a single eyebrow at him.

“That’s valid. Yeah. I’m a demigod with water powers.”

“Like Katara but cooler.”

“Exactly like Katara but way cooler.”

She nodded to herself. 

“So can you like... bend other stuff with water in it?”

“I can bend poison, I did that once,” he danced around the subject. He didn’t want to outright lie to her but he didn’t want her to ask about-

“I saw you try to remove the bullet from your wound. Can you bloodbend?”

“Um, theoretically,” Percy paused, “but as you saw I can’t do it in practice.”

“I’d make the assumption you could do it, but because you were severely wounded your abilities were hindered.”

“That’s a valid assumption, but I don’t want to go dark and scary so I try to avoid practicing it at all costs.”

“Am I making you uncomfortable?”

Percy flinched at the words, and then again at the pain flinching caused him. The red spot on the sheets was getting bigger. His toes were cold and his hands were clammy. He felt gross.

“I might pass out again,” Percy swallowed slowly. “I’ve never done so much fainting in my life,” he shook his head as a gesture of amusement, but the movement made everything around him blurry.

“Don’t pass out, there will be a doctor soON OHmygod,” her voice got loud before she suddenly quieted herself. Doctor Banner hurried into the room and Percy smiled at her awe-filled gaze. He knew the good Doctor was a huge idol for basically everyone at Peter’s nerd school. 

“Percy, how are you feeling, what did you do?” Bruce huffed and started playing with all of the fancy equipment around Percy. “You ran out of nectar and ambrosia right?” At Percy’s nod he sighed. “Unfortunate, truly. Well we’re doing what we can. You’re fine and healing you’re just bleeding a lot and in pain. Any questions?”

“Yeah, did it hurt?”

“What?” Bruce paused to look over at him.

“When you fell from heaven? You’re like my guardian angel doctor angry,” Percy was tiring out quickly and wanted to lighten the mood.

“Do I look-” Bruce put his hands on his hips to retort, but Percy laughed at him.

“Because it motherfucking hurt when I crawled out of Hell,” he cackled at Bruce’s exasperated face, Peter’s ghostly expression, and MJ’s confused eyebrows. 

“Get it? Man I’m tired. I’m going to bed now.”

“I need you to stay awake, Perseus,” Bruce commanded him.

“Fuck off.”


	33. Chapter 33

Week two. Sunday. 

It was another few days before Percy was strong enough to use his water powers to completely heal himself, and he was alone for most of it. Annabeth had Iris-messaged him that very first day when she heard he'd been shot, and Bucky visited yesterday morning to update him on this week's training.

When he actually left med bay, he was greeted by a bone-crushing hug. 

"Mom," Percy whispered and flung his arms around the smaller woman.

"Spiderman told me you were hurt trying to help him. Percy, stop picking fights with bad guys," Percy smiled at her teary laughter and finally pulled back. She had dark circles under her eyes. "They didn't tell me until yesterday and I was working late so I came as soon as I could. I love you."

"I love you too Mom, I'm sorry I keep getting into trouble," Percy shrugged with a silly smile. "It's not my fault the bad guys wanna get me. I'm just always at the wrong place at the wrong time."

"You definitely ran into that fight to help Spiderman. Don't try and play me Perseus," came a deep voice from the doorway behind his mom. "I'm proud of you for trying to help but mortals have guns and your armor isn't bullet proof. You should have prepared more." His father's voice was stern but he had a soft smile on his face. "I'm glad you're okay and that you're learning to heal better with water."

"Thanks Dad," Percy chuckled as the large man strode over and picked Percy up in a hug.

"It's good to see you bullet-free."

"It feels good to be bullet-free," Percy laughed and tapped on his shoulder until he was let go. 

"Have you guys seen anybody around?"

"Oh, yes! Your friend Peter and his aunt are here! Such a lovely boy, you didn't tell me you made friends when you toured Midtown High. We're very happy Mister Stark got you into a good school," his mom beamed at him and he cringed internally. He would have to lie about the whole Spiderman thing to his mom. 

"Yeah, he was on a school trip in Europe when all the stuff went down, and we got to talking a little more. His aunt is a very nice lady as well, you should talk to her some," Percy smiled at her. 

"I'll have to, I have her phone number," his mom looked down at her old watch. "I have to get to work soon, sweetheart, and I'm sure your father has business to attend to, so we'll leave you. But you call me whenever you need anything, okay? You're my baby," she tugged him into another warm hug and kissed his hair. "I'll see you soon."

"I love you Mom," he turned and hugged his dad again. "Love you too, dad."

With that he was alone again. Or so he thought.

“My brother contacted me when he found out you were fully healed,” Percy whipped around and raised an eyebrow at his uncle. 

“You’re gonna get a bad rep if you keep lurking in corners dude,” Percy rolled his eyes as the shadows dissipated.

“That’s the point, Perseus. Now, are you ready for another session?”

“Yeah, but maybe we should move this to my room or the med bay so that I can sit down after. You know how it drains us both,” Percy nodded his head towards the door. “I’ve been living in that medical cot for days, may as well keep using it.” When Hades nodded, he led the god into the sterile room and stood, shifting from foot to foot. He always hated this part. He inhaled deeply and nodded quickly to signal he was ready and cringed when his uncle placed both hands on Percy’s shoulders and started using his magic. Percy felt at first very cold, then hot as his soul tightened like a bow about to release. The unpleasant part was the tightening. His lungs begged for air, his eyes fought to stay open, he felt so physically lethargic as his very soul was poked and prodded and pulled apart.

In a few moments it was over, the taut string was released, and Percy fell back, exhausted.

“I hate that,” he coughed and groaned. “But thank you.”

“It’s the least I could do, I’ll be seeing you soon,” and with that he was gone. Percy knew he hated showing his weakness after the sessions. It drained them both. 

With a sigh he laid back on the cot and closed his eyes. He could train after a nap.

______________________________

When he came to, it was dark, and hot. He looked around, but he could barely see anything. 

“Young Perseus,” a voice hissed and it echoed among what must be a large cavern. He waited for the echoes to die out before calling out: “Who’s there?”

“You think you can rid yourself of the darkness so easily,” it hissed again, this time in Percy’s ear. He whipped around, but saw nothing but darkness. 

“Who are you?”

“But your soul will burn in Tartarus for  _ eternity, _ ” the voice was inside his head this time, echoing around his skull. 

“Get out!” He yelled.

“You think Hades is your savior? He knows not what he meddles in!” Percy groaned in pain as the voice expanded in his head. 

“Percy it’s just a dream,” came a soft whisper from outside his body. He shook his head viciously.

“It’s just a dream!” Percy repeated after the voice and clutched his throbbing head in his hands. “You’re just a dream! You’re not real!”

“Of course I’m a dream,” it whispered sweetly in his ear. “But that doesn’t mean it isn’t real.”

All the breath left Percy’s body as a sharp pain emanated from the middle of his back. 

______________________________

“Percy!” Peter exclaimed as Percy threw himself out of the bed and choked on the hot metallic liquid in his mouth. When he opened his mouth to say something, anything, all that came out was blood. When he reached back towards the pain in his back he grasped at... Was that?

Percy groaned loudly as he drew the knife out of his back. It was black as night and cold as ice. When he held it up to show it to Peter, it disappeared in his hand like a shadow.

“What the fuck,” Percy coughed through the blood.

“DOCTOR BANNER,” Peter ran out, yelling for help as Percy tried to use water from his cup to start healing himself, though he figured the wound was more than he could handle. 

By the time Peter and Bruce got back, Percy’s lung was mended where it had been stabbed, but that was about it. He said as much to his companions and within minutes Percy’s wound was cleaned and stitched back together. A very unpleasant experience.

“You’re staying here another night. In the morning after you’ve rested you can try and heal more. What even happened?” Bruce crossed his arms across his chest.

“I was having a demigod nightmare. They’re like regular nightmares but usually prophetic or real,” he sighed in pain as he laid back on the cot once again. “But when I got stabbed, I woke up with a real knife in my back, only when I tried to hold it, it turned into shadows and disappeared.”

“It’s true, I saw it happen. I came in when I heard him screaming and he launched himself out of bed with a black knife in his back, and then I saw it disappear, too,” Peter nodded his head as he confirmed what Percy had said and Bruce closed his eyes tightly.

“How can we protect you from your own dreams, I thought your uncle was helping with this?”

“He was, but I think whoever is sending me these dreams is more powerful than him. It might be... Tartarus or Kronos. I don’t know,” Percy frowned. “I can contact Hads in a few days about it, see if he can strike a deal with Morpheus on my account. We’ll see.”

After Bruce left, Peter stayed for a while and showed Percy how to play Angry Birds on his Starkpad. It was nice, but Percy couldn’t help but think how close Peter was to him, but how far away he was from what he wanted.


	34. Chapter 34

Week Two. Monday.

Percy spent the dark hours of the morning sweating in a hospital cot before he finally gave up and snuck out to the pool to swim laps. That was where Bucky found him at dawn.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" The older man sat at the edge of the pool and kicked his feet in the water.

"I can't trust my sleep anymore," Percy held himself aloft and cocked his head at Bucky. "Got stabbed in the back in my dream and woke up with a magic knife in my back," he shrugged. 

"So are you just gonna not sleep?"

"I'm gonna try to contact Morpheus and get him to help out with my dreams. That way I'll be better protected." 

"And until then?"

"The human body can go eleven days without sleep so I have time to make a deal. But I'll be in bad shape if it's later rather than sooner," Percy sighed and swam to the edge of the pool before pulling himself out. "I need to give my Uncle Hades a day or two to recover from using his magic like that on my soul, and then I'll ask him to talk to Morpheus."

"Well, until then, you have training. Today is with Natasha so wear something soft and comfortable. You're working on flexibility." Bucky patted him on his shoulder before leaving him. "You're expected in the next half hour."

________________

Training with Natasha was scary. She was deadly serious, even when teaching Percy how to train for flexibility and stretch for splits. It was odd in comparison to her usual dry humor. 

“You’re already decently flexible, likely because you’re always warmed up from training. We’ll be working on hamstrings and groin mainly, and then we’ll get into hand-to-hand,” she nodded at him from her seated position in front of him and demonstrated the best way to stretch one’s groin (something Percy didn’t think he wanted to stretch, really).

“How did you get so flexible?” He was trying to make conversation. It was always hit or miss with her.

“Ballet.”

“Wow that’s awesome! Me and my mom always watch the Russian ballet do the Nutcracker on TV for Christmas!” he smiled wistfully. “It’s very disciplined. I can see you doing that,” he nodded to himself.

“By the end of the week maybe I’ll have you doing pirouettes,” she winked at him and gracefully ascended to her feet, then held out a hand for him to pull himself up with. “For now, you’re going to learn how to block my punches. No shield, no sword, just your arms. Are you ready?”

Percy took up his fighting stance and grinned at her. He could totally do this.

________________

He totally could not do that. He wasn’t used to using his arms to shield himself and by the time he dragged himself into the shower to clean up and recharge, his limbs were stiffening up with exertion. He’d been at it for hours and hours.

All the breath left his body in a soft sigh when the warm water cascaded down his shoulders and back. He closed his eyes as he soaped himself up. It was a habit he had to avoid looking at his scars, but he’d more than come to terms with them over the past weeks. By now, he only closed his eyes to fully enjoy the water rejuvenating and calming him. 

He was reaching back to lather soap into his hair when his mind returned to his training. He’d seen Peter working with Natasha before, and wondered if it was a common occurrence. It had to be by the fluid way in which Peter sparred with Natasha, the ease with which he dodged her blows and dealt his own.

Percy’s skin grew warmer as he thought about seeing Peter spar in that tight Spandex suit of his, the way his muscles flexed and relaxed so visibly, and the way one could see his entire physique with very little left to the imagination. Percy huffed out a soft laugh at the thought of how impractical being armor-less was, but blushed when he countered that thought with ‘ _ it’s really practical if your goal is to stare at that fantastic ass all day long,’ _ and with that thought Percy groaned. Seeing Peter up close and personal during that fight with Beck was... a religious experience. He was so strong and kind and flexible. 

Percy groaned again.

Well, if he couldn’t get Peter’s fine ass off his mind... He looked down at his hardening member and tentatively wrapped his fingers around it. He’d never actually jerked off while thinking about Peter before but he only had so much self control. 

Percy closed his eyes as the water ran down his skin and leaned against the wall. He was going to hell for masturbating while thinking about his friend-who-was-currently-in-a-relationship.

_ It’s okay though,  _ Percy reasoned with himself,  _ I’ve already been to hell. What could possibly happen? _

_______________________

“Percy? You in there?” Bucky called from inside Percy’s suite.

The boy in question slipped in shock and snapped his eyes open as he started falling.

“What the FU-AUGH!” Percy shouted as he threw his arms out in front of him to catch himself on the floor, cuts on his hands forming and healing as the shower kept running on him.

“Percy?” Peter shouted, footsteps coming towards the bathroom.

“WAIT!” Percy shouted and held a hand up like they could see it through the door.

“Are you okay?” Peter’s voice was softer and just outside the door.

“You scared the shit out of me!” Percy had to focus on his words, as his voice had raised an octave in distress. “And I fell, but I am good,” he groaned as he stood and sighed mournfully. He supposed jerking off to his closest friend was a bad idea. His suite had no locked doors. People could just walk in. 

He turned the shower off and willed himself dry before wrapping a towel around his waist pushing the door open.

“Uh, hey guys. Whats up?” He knew he was blushing all over, but he felt a little less bad about it because Peter was blushing from his forehead down into the collar of his pressed white shirt.

“Natasha said you were distracted so I came to check on you, but I ran into the little one here,” he nudged Peter with his metal elbow, “and decided you could probably use a pick-me-up, so I brought him along.”

“What are you doing in the tower? How did you get commandeered to come visit me?” Percy asked Peter. 

“Um, well you see-” he scratched his head and smiled softly. “I meant to text you but I’m still grounded so no phone... But I told May that considering the circumstances I could use someone my age to talk to...”

“The circumstances?” Percy found the ability to move again and pushed past Bucky and Peter (he should not be allowed to look so nerdy-hot in that button up and cardigan), to close himself in his closet and quickly throw on shorts and a camp t-shirt before emerging again.

“Yeah, MJ and I broke up,” he coughed and looked down. “We figured out pretty quickly that we work better as friends, but it still sorta sucks so... I came here,” he shrugged and looked up into Percy’s bright sea-green eyes.

“Well you came to the right place,” Percy slung an arm around Peter’s shoulders. “I had counseling this morning, and training already, so I am free for the rest of the day. Also,” he turned to Bucky. “I was distracted at training because I had counseling beforehand. Whoever makes my schedule should probably avoid that.” Bucky nodded at Percy before he said his goodbyes and Percy turned back to Peter, squeezing his arm around him.

“So, X-Box or movie?” Percy led Peter to his living area.

“I have had a hankering to watch Coco,” Peter smiled up at Percy as they got comfortable on the plush couch.

“You just want to see me cry,” Percy accused jokingly. 

Peter gasped. “Never,” he laughed softly. “Plus, I’ll probably cry too, so you won’t be alone.”

“Well, as long as it’s not just me,” Percy winked and turned the lights off.


	35. Chapter 35

When Peter left later that night, Percy wasn’t ashamed to do a little dance in his living room. MJ and Peter had broken up! He danced his way over to his bedroom and flung himself onto his bed, hugging a pillow to himself.

He would have to strategize this. He couldn’t just make a move on Peter, the boy had just ended a relationship with someone and despite the amicable nature of it, he was still upset. Percy would have to muster his brain cells and make a plan.

Aha!

His feet hit the ground before the plan had fully formed in his head, and he tumbled into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Pulling a drachma out of his drawer, he tossed it into the mist.

“Oh Lady Iris, please accept my offering. Show me Annabeth Chase,” Percy was beaming, but ended up choking as he caught Annabeth in a... heated... situation. In retrospect, Percy probably shouldn’t have called her this late at night, but he had no other means of contact. He cleared his throat and the two lovers broke apart, shuffling and straightening their clothes.

“Seaweed Brain. Seriously?” Annabeth wiped at her lips and put her hands on her hips as the girl behind her smirked at Percy.

“Sorry ladies, but I need relationship advice,” he shrugged and tried not to laugh at Annabeth’s disgruntled appearance. 

“Well you’ve come to the wrong person Jackson, you should have called me. Daughter of Aphrodite and all,” Piper gestured to herself and Percy rolled his eyes.

“This one is going to take strategy. Actually, having you both might be helpful. You see-” and he described the situation with Peter and how he had just broken up (amicably) with MJ, but also how he was grounded so seeing each other was hard, but that he understood the superhero struggle so Percy connected with him a lot.

“You came to the right people, though it pains me to say so. Him being grounded is tough but from what you said, he comes over a bit to do internship stuff and train, so you’ll at least be able to see him. Are you confined to the Tower or can you leave?” Annabeth asked.

“I can leave but I need a chaperone.”

“Okay, so going out on dates is a definite no. Not with a chaperone. But there are places to eat within the tower right?”

“He can’t just start asking him on dates, Annie,” Piper cut the other girl off. “Peter’s grounded, so dates are a no. He can do homework, do internship work, and train. Those are the times you can see him. Your options are somehow become a lab rat or assistant to Tony Stark so you can see him during internship hours, get him to tutor you, or train with him. I suggest tutoring and training-” Piper was cut off.

‘That’s a great idea!” Annabeth eyed Piper with wonder in her eyes. “He’ll love to tutor you since you’re going to go to the same school, plus he’ll appreciate that you’re trying to learn. And then when you train together he can appreciate your body-”

“And ogle that tight ass, because he definitely wants that,” Piper winked and Percy blushed just a tiny bit. 

“Okay, so ask him to tutor me since I’ll be starting summer school in a few months, and then convince him to train with me. I can do that. You two are lifesavers,” Percy sighed deeply, thankful to at least have some sort of plan. “Don’t let the harpies catch you two canoodling!” Percy said in parting and winked at the two, turning the water off before Annabeth could scold him.

He had a plan. This would be good. 

With another sigh, Percy fell asleep with a soft smile on his lips.

______________________

“Do you think I could train with Peter sometime?” 

It was four thirty in the morning. Bucky couldn’t sleep either and the two were doing core exercises to warm up.

“I don’t see why not. He doesn’t come here that often to train but I’m sure he would come to help you out. What, we aren’t good enough for you anymore?” Bucky raised an eyebrow at his younger companion and Percy let out a chuckle.

“It’s not that at all. I just miss being around people my age, and since Peter is grounded it’s hard to get time with him,” he shrugged after his 100th crunch, and moved onto Russian Twists.

“Understandable. I’ll talk to Tony and Natasha about adding him to your schedule.” 

Percy nodded and continued for his full minute of twists. They worked in silence for a while until Bucky finally asked why Percy was up so early.

“My Tartarus nightmares are getting much better, but now that I have this new threat, I’m only allowing myself to sleep for two hours at a time so that I don’t get physically attacked in my sleep again. I’m going to talk to Hades tomorrow about it.”

“So how many hours of sleep are you working on right now?” Bucky raised an eyebrow at him when he came up for one of his oblique sit ups.

“I did two sets of two hours so four,” Percy shrugged and stood, helping the ex-Winter Soldier up as well. “I’ll be fine. Just another challenge to push through. Unfortunately, demigod dreams aren’t like human dreams. For you, two hours isn’t nearly enough to sleep deep enough to dream. I, however, had dreams full of ‘ _ Your soul will burn in Tartarus for eternity _ ,’ so that was fun.”

“That’s no good, are you going to talk to Sam about it?”

“Probably, but it’s not a huge inconvenience. I’m used to weird dreams and they don’t totally affect me anymore. Sometimes they’re prophetic, but more often than not these days they’re just threats. I’m used to it,” he shrugged again and moved to the elliptical to start some cardio.

“Used to being threatened?”

“Yeah for sure, I went to so many different schools and met so many bullies. You get used to fighting and getting threatened. You just gotta keep getting back up,” Bucky smiled fondly at the words. 

“You remind me too much of little Stevie from before he was Captain America. Now, he was a lot smaller than you, but he hated bullies. He’d pick fights with guys three times his size and he always said ‘I could do this all day.’ He was a real scrappy guy.”

“Just like his country? Young, scrappy, and hungry?” Percy asked.

“You could say so, yeah,” Bucky laughed while he walked leisurely on the treadmill. “But he was nowhere near as eloquent as Hamilton.”

“He seems so on top of things, but I guess he always had to fight too. We’re not all that different. I guess I see a lot of myself in all of you guys. It’s nice being around people who can understand me, I just wish more of you were my age,” Percy stepped off and made to move towards the training simulator. “I’ll be happy to train with Clint again today. He might be older than me but he acts my age,” Percy smiled at Bucky’s hearty laugh and left the man to his run.

It was time for Percy to try the trident out on the bot again.


	36. Chapter 36

It was surprisingly easy to contact Hades and ask him to talk to Morpheus. The god was apparently still feeling bad about all that he had done (Percy mentally thanked Nico for probably helping with that). He said he would get back to Percy in a few days, but to be careful while he was sleeping. 

That led Percy to Friday morning. He’d slept a total of eleven hours in the last three days. 

But, Peter was coming to spar with him today! He hadn’t seen him since their movie night. He’d agreed to tutor Percy, and had happily arranged a time to come train with him. Percy wore his dark gray joggers (great for easy movement and they made his butt look amazing), and a cutoff camp t-shirt. After all, he had to show off his assets.

Unfortunately, Percy would be showing off his assets to approximately nobody until Peter arrived at 9:30 AM. Percy had been up and sparring since 4, and it would be 9 in a few minutes. 

In an attempt not to drain himself, he decided to run on the treadmill until Peter arrived. So, he put on his headphones and started blasting his running playlist in his ears. 

Percy was happily mouthing along to the words of another great Aurora bop when Peter materialized in front of him, causing him to startle and trip. Thankfully he caught himself and turned off the treadmill.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear you come in,” Percy turned the music off and stepped off the machine, making his way towards Peter.

“I figured, I tried not to startle you,” he smiled bashfully and shrugged. “Next time I’ll flash a light at you or something.”

“Very funny,” Percy stuck his tongue out at him. “Do you need to warm up?”

“Nah, I took the stairs to get here so I’m all warmed up,” Peter grabbed Percy’s hand and pulled him towards the sparring mats. “I’m guessing we’re going to have  _ very _ different fighting styles, so let’s see how this goes.”

Even Peter’s fighting stance was different than Percy’s. While Percy stood with his legs spread and arms close to his body, Peter was bouncing up and down on his toes with his arms bend and ready to move.

“JARVIS, give us a countdown, will ya?” Percy asked.

“Three, two, one.” The disembodied voice replied, and immediately Percy moved in on Peter, taking the offensive and throwing a punch at his stomach, but Peter used his energy to do a standing flip over Percy’s head. Percy spun and blocked the jumping kick Peter threw at him next, grabbing Peter’s foot as he flew by and using that momentum to throw him to the ground. 

Peter was very acrobatic, Percy would have to adjust to his spins, jumping, and flipping. He would have to be lighter on his feet. When Peter came at him next, Percy crouched into a forward roll and kicked out at Peter’s legs, only for the other boy to jump just in time and land gracefully across from him.

It went on like that for a while, not really landing any hits, but using each other's movements against them. Percy finally had a punch going towards Peter’s face and he just caught it. He just caught Percy’s fist going at full speed towards his face. Percy’s eyes widened. He forgot that Peter had extremely superpowered strength.

Okay, so a direct approach wouldn’t work on Peter because he could just block Percy. 

So, he spun and threw his elbow into Peter’s gut, earning him a groan and making Peter let go of his hand. For a few moments, Percy had the upper hand, hitting Peter with a flurry of elbows and kicks, but faking here and there to throw him off. Unfortunately, Peter caught onto his fakes and pulled him into a headlock. 

“Should we use our powers?” Percy huffed from his position, tight against the front of Peter’s body. 

“My webbing takes two hours to dissolve, maybe that’s not a good idea,” Peter breathed into Percy’s ear. 

“That’s if you manage to get me.”

“If you can get out of this position, we can use our powers,” Peter replied.

“Easy peasy, fresh and squeezy,” Percy leaned forward and swung his head backwards into Peter’s nose, causing him to let go and allowing Percy to spin and quickly assess the situation.

Peter’s nose looked fine, not bleeding or broken, just sore. Percy drew water from the water fountain into a ball in front of him and used it as a shield to block the webs Peter was now throwing at him. 

But Percy didn’t want to be on the defensive, so he started throwing (blunt) ice daggers at Peter, and watched in awe as the other boy skillfully spun and dodged them all. Percy would have to work harder. He formed an ice spear.

“Hey, no weapons. No fair,” Peter pouted from across him.

“You said I could use my powers,” Percy shrugged. “But if you’re going to pout about it,” he allowed it to melt. “I have other means of beating you.” 

It took a moment, and Percy let his guard down just a  _ little bit _ in order to draw upon his powers. He felt a strain, a tug in his stomach, and a growing sensation inside him like he was about to burst with sunlight, and thrust his hand forward, holding Peter back by the blood in his veins, just for a moment, before letting him go. Peter leaned forward and put his hands on his knees.

“Okay, you win.,” he panted. “That was seriously impressive, but I thought you were against blood-bending?”

“I’m trying to train using my powers in a non-negative way. Sparring is a good place, but I could only do it with you, Steve, or Bucky because your metabolisms are so high that it would immediately repair the damage done by stopping the bloodflow,” he explained. “Did it... hurt? Because I can just not do it again.” He bit his lip. Sparring was all fun and games, but he didn’t want to scare or hurt Peter.

“Not really, it was frustrating because I was trying too hard to move, and it sort of hurt when I did try to move. Like a painful pulling sensation. But it wasn’t too painful,” he shrugged it off and stood. “But I think we could both use a break. Using your powers like that has to be draining.”

“It is, though I have to keep training after the break. Gotta stay in shape,” he flexed his arms a little and internally smirked at the way Peter’s eyes widened just a little bit, and his face (pink from the exertion), started blushing red. 

Training with Peter was a great idea. He could look hot to gain Peter’s attention, and he had free reign to have skin-on-skin contact with Peter, which was nice, and he noticed Peter looking at his butt a few times. Life was good.


	37. Chapter 37

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is sort of a filler chapter

Percy endured two weeks of nonstop training, socializing, counseling, and soul sucking (courtesy of Hades) before he felt well enough to travel outside the tower. He would be meeting Peter at his home for tutoring (they weren’t allowed to go to a coffee shop or anywhere because Peter was  _ still _ grounded). 

Percy was excited though, he would get to meet Peter’s Aunt May again. She’d been in contact with Percy’s mom since they met at the tower after the Europe incident, and Sally had expressed that she thought May was a lovely woman and Percy better make a good impression on her. He neglected to mention that the last time he saw May, he’d run off instead of letting her take him to the hospital.

But, she was right. He had to make a good impression this time around. He could woo Peter with his jokes, charm, and biceps, but he had to also make Peter’s Aunt May like him.

As it turned out, that wasn’t an issue.

“Percy, ohmygosh it is so good to see you again all healthy and not injured!” She immediately pulled him into a hug when she opened the door and squeezed him tight before pulling him inside.

“It’s good to see you too,” he chuckled and she gasped in response, holding him by the shoulders at arms length.

“Oh, and you talk now! Wonderful! Well you will find Peter in his room, just down there,” she pointed the way to him and just as he was entering the room she called out “Door open, boys!”

“Maaaaay,” Peter groaned from inside and Percy laughed. It was nice seeing their dynamic. It made him miss his mom.

“Hey, Peter,” Percy greeted him and sat down on Peter’s bed, the other boy being in the only chair in the room.

“Percy! Hey, I’m glad you could come. It’s good to get out of the tower, yeah?”

“Definitely. I started going stir crazy, but they’re keeping me busy so it isn’t so bad. What’s on the agenda today?”

“Biology and American history,” Peter pulled two massive textbooks off of his desk and plopped down next to Percy with them in his lap. “We won’t actually read the book, I think your dyslexia would cause a lot of issues there, but we will be using the diagrams and pictures. Can you read modern Greek? I found the translated book you’ll need for summer school in Greek, but I don’t know if you only do ancient Greek...” He trailed off and held one of the books up to Percy. The letters started rearranging, but it wasn;t exactly the same.

“I can understand it, but it’s not the same. It’s probably like if you were reading a book in Spanish. The words make sense but I have to think about it to put it together instead of it just making sense. But honestly, this is way better than English. Thank you, Peter,” Percy beamed at him, and Peter’s cheeks darkened as the other boy’s praise and attention was all on him.

“It’s not a problem at all, I want you to do well,” he smiled softly. “Now, obviously flash cards and highlighting notes are not going to work, so I got some pre-recorded lectures from the school and found some great youtube videos. That way there’s no actual reading involved, and then if you have any questions you can ask me and I can help. We’ll start with the American Revolution and then switch to animal and plant cells. Sound like a plan?”

“You’ve really thought this out,” Percy remarked.

“I’ve been grounded for  _ weeks _ , I have had time to plan this,” Peter rolled his eyes. “I think it should work, and then when school actually starts we’ll work on the reading parts.”

“Thank you,” Percy reached out to squeeze Peter’s shoulder. “It means a lot. Nobody has taken this much care to help me before.”

“It’s really my pleasure, I’m getting good practice by helping teach it to you.”

“Okay, let’s get started.”

________________________________________

All Percy could think about on his way back to the tower that evening was that he was obsessed with the musical Hamilton and that Thomas Jefferson was a little shit. The dude had slaves, and didn’t really ever speak out against slavery, but when he died he wrote letters that said he was against slavery the whole time but was afraid to speak up. It made Percy fume. He didn’t like silent bystanders. They were oftentimes just as bad as bullies, and he hated bullies.

He sighed, he was not excited about summer school. He would likely encounter the worst of the bunch there, and he was not anticipating making many friends there. He didn;t even know what kinds of kids at a fancy science school would  _ have _ to go to summer school. He didn’t even know how he even got into that school, to be honest. He didn’t know what Stark did. Hopefully he didn’t owe the man anything after this.

He sighed again, then mentally chastised himself for being dramatic. He was very lucky to have another chance, and he was in the same grade as Peter, so when the fall started he would be able to have some classes with him, MJ, and Ned.

Once he got into the tower, he bypassed all the common areas and tried to avoid everyone on his way to his room. His brain was fried from all that learning, and he just wanted to shower and go to bed. It was coming up on eleven at night, and he’d spent hours with Peter being tutored and decidedly  _ not  _ goofing off. Peter likely wouldn’t allow it, he took it very seriously. Percy smiled at the thought. Peter cared about him. It was a nice thought. He liked being cared about. He hadn’t felt like that in a while, but seeing someone go out of their way to help him warmed his heart. 

He was so lost in thought he ran right into Captain Ass-merica. America’s Ass. America the Booty-ful. Percy could make up jokes about the man’s butt all day. You could bounce a quarter off of it. Percy shook his head, now was not the time to think about his butt. 

“Sorry about that, wasn’t looking where I was going,   
Percy smiled and scratched the back of his head.

“No problem, kid. Where you headed?”

“Just back to my room. Spent a few hours in tutoring and I’m beat.”

“Ah, gotcha. Well don’t stay up too late, you’re training with me tomorrow morning and I won’t go easy on you.”

“Aye aye, Captain,” Percy smirked and mentally high-fived himself when the good Captain rolled his eyes and smiled, amused.

“See you in the morning.”

“Seeya,” and with that, Percy entered his suite, closed the door, and leaned against it. Socializing could be tiring. 

However, he’d never trained with Steve before and was excited for what the morning would bring for him.


	38. Chapter 38

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I live for cliffhangers

Percy was a week into tutoring when it happened. 


	39. Chapter 39

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Peter's POV! Wild!

Peter enjoyed tutoring Percy, he really did. It was great practice for him, and it meant he wouldn’t have to study nearly as hard when the school year came around.  He also got to spend tons of time with Percy, and socializing was hard to come by these days. May said he would stop being grounded when summer was over though, so he had that going for him. Unfortunately that meant barely any time with Ned or MJ (or any non-studying time with Percy) until school. He was sort of upset about that though because he wanted to rekindle his friendship with Mj and it was kind of hard because they broke up and then he was grounded and then he got hooked into tutoring percy and... he was rambling. Inside his own head. Jesus.

_ So, _ Peter thought to himself as he made his way to Stark Tower,  _ I do enjoy tutoring Percy, but it’s absolute  _ **_torture._ ** _ I can’t be around all that... that-ness and not be completely attracted to him.  _ Peter sighed as he walked towards the giant building.  _ It’s been a week of constantly being around him during tutoring, and seeing him try so hard and work so hard is incredible. The work ethic is there, he has the potential to be so smart, and the way he looks when he’s concentrating is so... so... hot! _ Peter rolled his eyes at himself.  _ That’s not the only thing about him that’s hot.  _ He thought about all the time he spent in the training room with Percy nowadays. They were pretty evenly matched, though Peter figured it was because they were both pulling punches and didn’t want to hurt eachother. Peter has superior strength and speed, but Percy had powers. They could kill eachother easily. 

_ That’s besides the point,  _ Peter thought. But what was the point?  _ The point is that Percy is like an actual honest-to-jesus demigod and he has the powers and the looks to prove it. And you’re goddamn Spiderman! You’re a catch! _ He was hyping himself up. He had a plan. He’d set it into action weeks ago, but it was a slow game. He made sure he scheduled his training sessions with Natasha at a time he knew Percy would be training (thanks Bucky for sharing Percy’s schedule). He insisted to Mister Stark that he would be the best one to tutor Percy, therefore spending more time with him. Percy asking to train with him was a wild ward though, he didn’t expect to have to handle all that... muscle... on a regular basis.

His face warmed at the thought.  _ And what nice muscle it is. _

Peter looked up at the tall tower, contemplating his next move. It was a slow game, but it was all about to come to a crux. Peter had been playing the long game ever since Percy had come into his life, but the Tartarus thing put a bump in his schedule. Luckily, spending time in the Underworld was a thing he was allowed to do because he got very close to Percy during that time. Which was when he found out Percy was bisexual. A good thing to know. 

_ Which brings me to today. We’re going to watch 12 Years a Slave, Bucky and Steve are going to leave before the credits start ( _ they liked coming over when Peter and Percy watched historically accurate movies about America, they liked catching up _ ), and when Percy gets ready to start going over the historical aspects of the movie, I’m going to kiss him. _

_ Then what? _

_ What?  _ Peter was second-guessing himself as he made his way up to the residential area. 

_ What happens then? Does he kiss you back? Does he back up and tell you he just wants to be friends? Is he disgusted? _

_ Oh God, I didn’t think this through. _

_ Yes, you did,  _ Peter scolded himself.  _ You’re a superhero. You’re practically an Avenger. He’d be lucky to have you. And he’s clearly interested. _

_ Yeah! _

_ I can do this! _

____________________

He couldn’t do it. 

It was all going to plan. 

Bucky and Steve had just left, and Percy was pulling out his tablet to take notes on the most important parts of the movie to compare to his American history textbook later on.

“Percy,” Peter heard himself saying, as if he wasn’t in his own body.  _ Wait! Abort mission! We can’t do this! _

“Yeah?” Percy turned back to him with a smile, only a foot away on the couch. Peter looked down and bit his lip softly, then looked up at Percy.

“Do you think the note-taking can wait a moment?”  _ Wait Peter no, abort! _ But his body was ready for this plan to finally come together.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

Peter came to sit on his knees and leaned forward, gently pulling Percy closer by the front of his orange t-shirt. They locked eyes for only a moment, but it was enough for Peter’s enhanced senses to notice the uptick in Percy’s heartbeat, the gentle flush on his face, and his pupils widening in anticipation.

_ Oh god. _

Peter said a mental  _ fuck off _ to his internal haters, closed his eyes, and pressed his lips against Percy’s in a chaste kiss. 


	40. Chapter 40

Percy was a week into tutoring when it happened.

Peter had looked up at him through his eyelashes with those big brown eyes, pulled him closer by the shirt, and kissed him. 

Peter pulled back a fraction of an inch, and their lips brushed together when Percy said “If this is what I get for doing something right, I might actually start to enjoy learning.”

Peter exhaled a soft laugh and opened his eyes, staring into Percy’s own sea-green ones. 

“I’m not against positive reinforcement,” Peter replied, finally letting go of Percy’s shirt and making a move to lean back. Percy caught him by the wrist and pulled the other boy towards himself, pressing their lips together again. Only this time, they didn’t break apart so easily. Peter wrapped his arms around Percy’s neck, pulling himself closer while Percy  _ softly _ manhandled Peter into his lap. 

Percy couldn’t possibly be happier as he wrapped one arm around Peter’s waist. He licked the seam of Peter’s lips as he used his unoccupied hand to stroke Peter’s thigh, prompting the other boy to open his mouth for Percy.

The two were loosely intertwined, hands roaming newly acquainted bodies. With Percy’s lips attached to his neck, Peter was too distracted to hear the footsteps in the hall coming closer, and standing outside the door for a moment. What they both heard was the knock on the door, followed way too quickly by it opening and revealing Bucky and Steve.

“Hey I forgot -” Bucky paused, and looked over at the two boys who were now sitting at opposite ends of the couch. “I forgot my sweatshirt.” He raised an eyebrow.

“You don’t look like you’re studying.”

“The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell,” Peter blurted.

“It’s not a biology day, we literally just watched a movie about slaves like an hour ago,” Steve deadpanned.

_ That was an hour ago?  _ Percy thought to himself. He’d been making out with Peter for an  _ hour _ ? God bless. 

“We switched to bio since the movie was pretty accurate and self explanatory,” Percy covered.

“And where are your textbooks?”

“I’m dyslexic. I don’t read textbooks,” Percy scoffed and Bucky rolled his eyes.

“Just grab my sweatshirt and leave them to their  _ studying _ , Steve. We’re not their parents.”

Steve huffed and did as he was told, once again leaving the two alone. 

“So,” Peter licked his lips and looked down at his lap.

“The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell?” Percy asked.

“I panicked!” Peter looked scandalized as Percy laughed at him.

“Your panicked mind state told you to blurt out the biggest meme in nerd history?”

“Look at least I didn’t start dropping Hamilton lyrics. It could have been worse.”

“Hah! Could you imagine,” Percy put on a deep voice: “It’s me, Captain America, here to stop you from canoodling,” then he did a terrible imitation of Peter’s voice: “How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore-” and then he mimed getting punched in the face. “Steve would  _ wreck you _ .”

“Oh god he would. Has he even seen Hamilton? He’d probably just think I called his mom a whore,” Peter choked on a laugh. “I could take him.”

“Yeah you’re probably right,” Percy responded.

“I fought him once, had the upper hand for a bit,” Peter looked thoughtful and Percy used his distraction to take him by the hand and pull him to sit closer again. “I could probably take him for real. He’s scrappy though, doesn’t back down even when he’s losing.”

“I guess we all have that in common, huh?” Percy responded. “But I’d rather talk about you and me than Steve Rogers.”

“You... would?”

“I mean maybe we should talk about what just happened. But it can wait if you want to actually tutor me,” Percy offered him an out in case he was getting nervous. 

“I’ve just wanted to kiss you for so long and I had this plan, usually my plans don’t work but this one did. But I realize now that it’s super dorky to have a plan to kiss someone and-”

“It’s okay, Peter. I had a plan too. You just got to the punchline first,” Percy smirked at him. “Though I’m glad you did because my plan was longer. This is an ideal situation.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I was going to wait until you weren’t grounded and then take you on a date, but I didn’t want to wait that long so when I was at your place last time I begged your Aunt May to let me take you out even though you’re grounded,” Percy looked down shyly. “That was an embarrassing conversation.”

“Wait, you really did that? For me?”

“Yeah,” Percy squeezed Peter’s hand that was still held in his own. “So you’re ungrounded for one day. This Saturday. It’s going to be 65 and sunny, and we are going to Central Park and then I am taking you for a romantic picnic,” Percy had originally planned to take Peter to a restaurant but well... He didn’t have a job and he wasn’t about to ask his mom for pocket money. 

“Oh,” Percy watched in awe as a blush spread from the collar of Peter’s shirt all the way up to his cheeks. “That’s so sweet, thank you,” Peter smiled and leaned forward to kiss Percy on his cheek, leaving Percy smiling like a goddamn dork.  _ Cool it, Percy  _ he thought to himself.  _ Be cool. _

_ I guess going to Aunt May was worth the embarrassment. _

“So, do you want to get back to the American slave trade now?” Percy inquired. “I’m a little distracted by all of this,” he gestured to Peter, “but I’m always distracted by that so I’m sure I can still focus."

“You just gestured to all of me,” Peter raised an eyebrow at him and Percy just winked back. “Alright, that’s valid. You know you’re very distracting, too, but we should get back to the work. First we’ll talk about the parts of the movie that are directly linked to things we’ll learn from the textbook, and then we’ll move on to discussion questions.”


	41. Chapter 41

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while guys sorry about that. But I got a new laptop and a new phone. However I am back at the office so I will be uploading slightly shorter chapters. Hopefully more often though.

Naturally, things couldn't stay peaceful. 

It was the morning of Percy and Peter's first official date, a Saturday in the park. It was supposed to be nice and romantic. Unfortunately, Percy's day started at 3 am with a typical nightmare. Fine, whatever, he could handle that. So he trained all morning. 

It was eleven by the time he was cleaned up and was supposed to meet Peter outside the tower. And he did meet Peter, right on time, as planned.

"Hey," Peter stood with his hands knotted together in front of him, biting his lip and looking shyly up at Percy.

"Hey," Percy greeted him and kissed him on the cheek. "Don't look so nervous. It's just me," Percy tried to calm him down a bit.

"It's ' _ just me'  _ he says," Peter laughed. "Like you're not super hot and this is our first date."

"Don't worry about it, we've been hanging out for months. Nothing bad will-" a screech cut Percy off and he grasped Peter and pulled the other boy behind him as he scanned the area, eyes and ears on high alert.

"What was that?" Peter exclaimed, holding onto Percy's hand. 

"Not sure. But if it's a monster you likely won't be able to see it. Stay alert." Percy was in what Bucky liked to call 'soldier mode.' His objective: keep Peter safe. 

The screech came again, but this time the monster showed itself, an empousa. 

"What is it?" Peter was struggling with the Mist.

"Angry empousa. Usually they come in pairs so we need to look out for another."

"It just looks like a cheerleader," Peter's voice was awed, he was constantly impressed by the magical Mist. 

"Percy Jackson!" She grunted and started charging him. "You... Will... BURN!" In a moment Percy unsheathed Riptide and had the monster in a pile of dust on the ground. 

"They're becoming more frequent. I really need to talk to Annabeth or Chiron about security measures for the Tower," Percy scratched his head and turned towards Peter. "You ok? Still wanna go for a picnic?"

"Uh yeah I think that will be nice ... You just took her out in like three seconds flat." Peter was staring at Percy, making the other boy nervous.

"Yeah, she wanted me but she could have hurt you too... So I had to.... I hope I didn't frighten you," Percy bit his lip and fidgeted with his hands. That was the last thing he wanted. 

"No no no! Honestly it was kinda hot. Even though it looked like you just totally demolished a cheerleader. Maybe that's weird... Oof. Oh well. Picnic time?" Peter was trying to laugh off how hot it was seeing Percy take charge and watching his biceps flex when he used the sword. Because that was a lot to handle. 

"Okay, picnic time."


	42. Chapter 42

Percy was always wrong. It was a running theme. He thought he was a normal kid? Wrong. Thought Luke was his friend? Wrong. Thought he should date Annabeth? So wrong.

Now?

Percy thought things couldn’t get worse. He was basically stuck at Avengers Tower with a bunch of weird adults. He couldn’t really take Peter on dates. He barely saw his mom. And he had this new threat in his dreams.

As it turned out, things could get worse.

“Agent Coulson, what are you-”

“You guys decided to find the enhanced individuals without me and then didn’t even tell me when you found them?” A calm man in a grey suit emerged from the elevator as Percy was shoving a blue pancake (thanks, Darcy) into his mouth.

“Agent iPod Thief! Still mad about that,” the woman called out.

“Well considering your intentions, we didn’t think it would be prudent to include you,” Steve’s voice was unusually tight, and as Percy watched, more Avengers slowly came into the room and expressed various faces and postures of distrust towards the newcomer.

“Perseus Jackson, nice to finally meet you,” the Agent walked over with a serene smile and held out a hand. Percy was raised right and agreed to shake his hand, but he was also considering how all of the people who were kind to him were approaching the Agent like he was a dangerous predator. So he shook his hand with his sticky pancake-eating hand. Percy got some satisfaction from seeing him discreetly wipe his hand on his pleated pants.

“Nice to meet you too,” he smiled brightly.

And as Percy was standing, two more agents walked in. 

“This is Daisy and Elena, they’re enhanced like you. We’d like to offer to bring you in to learn more about you and your powers.”

Percy eyed up the two women. Elena looked like she’d rather be elsewhere and Percy  _ felt  _ that. Daisy looked like she’d kill him if he moved too fast. It made his decision easy.

“No, thanks.” 

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t optional.”

“Then why’d you ask,” Percy asked at the same time the Iron Man suit attached to Tony and Bucky’s arm whirred as he stepped closer.

“You’re not taking the kid. He’s under my protection,” Tony’s tinny voice came through the mask.

“Since when do you protect fugitives?”   
“Fugitive, since when am I a fugitive?” Percy screeched (much to his embarrassment). “My mom is going to kill me.”

“If you resist arrest from my team you will be.”

“Why am I being arrested?”

“You’re an enhanced human that has a history of violence. My team has a responsibility to bring you in. If you resist, we have communication with a higher authority.”

“What do you mean, Jesus?” Percy huffed and Steve rolled his eyes. 

“You’re not welcome here Coulson,” Steve spoke lowly and seriously, coming closer to Percy. 

Percy stood and Daisy raised her arms out at him. That looked dangerous.

“I’m not coming with you,” Percy stood his ground. 

“Then we’ll have to take you,” Daisy frowned. “Just come with us and we can train you. It saved my life.”

“I already train my powers. Really, I’m good,” Percy started backing up and raised his hands in defense. His thoughts were racing. He didn’t like this new threat. It was government-scented and Percy didn’t like that. Him and the law didn’t get along. He’d rather deal with his own dreams.

“He wants to collect you,” Tony commented. “Like a tool. We won’t let zombie man get you.”

“Hey guys!” Peter exclaimed when he entered from the stairway. “Um… What’s going on?”

“Peter get out of here,” Percy begged, eyes locking with the other boy’s. 

“Percy?” But as soon as Peter took a step forward, Daisy shot her arm out and blasted him back with a wave of energy. Peter was totally fine and flipped out of the way, but Percy was seeing red.

“Aw man, you had to attack Peter,” Clint facepalmed and Percy was psyching himself up for a fight. 

“We know he’s Stark’s apprentice but I highly doubt he’ll attack us and risk ruining his tower again,” Elena rolled her eyes, but Percy was too busy calculating his next move to notice. His ears were ringing and he locked eyes with Daisy.

“No,” Bucky laughed. “That’s not who he meant.”

“Then who?” Coulson’s eyes searched the room, only to fall on a reddening Perseus Jackson, enhancements and threat level unknown. 

“You just attacked Percy’s boyfriend,” Clint laughed, and in the amount of time it took for the words to click, Percy was flinging his plate like a frisbee across the room, and watched satisfied as Daisy tried to dodge and syrup flung in her face.

“Eugh!” She screeched, and Percy threw himself into action, using his momentum to punch at Daisy while she was distracted, but he underestimated her. She threw an arm at him and a panfu blast sent him flying backwards.

This happened a few times and Percy eyed her up from his crouched position, only dully hearing the sounds of fighting around him.

_ Bloodbend them _ , his inner voice said to him.  _ End this.  _

And as he glanced around, he had to agree. Elena was handling three of them at once, bouncing fast as lightning from her spot near the elevator to each of them.

Coulson was holding his own against Clint (a grudge match, Percy figured).

And Daisy? She was eyeing him up with dark, stormy eyes. He would be totally attracted to her if she wasn’t such a mindless soldier.

So, Percy did what he had to to protect his friends. He felt that sharp pull in his gut and tightened his fingers around the air, feeling all of the water in the room.

He inhaled.

The human body was 65% water. He could do this.

He closed his eyes and felt for the two enhanced women and Coulson and he  _ clenched _ his powers, making them freeze and causing the others to stop as well. When he opened his eyes, the three in his clutches were flinching and twitching, and Percy dragged them with his powers towards the window.   
“You either leave on your own,” he grunted through his teeth. “Or you go through the window.”

“Elevator is fine,” Elena squeaked, and Percy dropped them all and let them fall to their knees before they backed out slowly.

“We will be in contact with you,” Coulson rasped, and then they were gone.

“Percy! You’ve never bloodbended three people and for so long, are you okay?” Peter rushed over, but Percy was so tired he sort of just… slumped into his sort-of-boyfriend’s arms. Luckily, Peter was super strong and just held Percy until he could help him into a chair.

“Didn’t know you had that in you Katara,” Tony whistled in appreciation as the situation diffused and Percy chuckled.

“It’s not a fun feeling, but it does the trick,” Percy slurred. “But I think it’s time for a nap.”   
“Say no more,” and Percy was not too manly to say that he squeaked when Peter picked him up bridal style and deposited him onto the couch a minute later. “We can watch Korra and you can fall asleep on my shoulder, okay?”

“Okay,” Percy agreed and snuggled into Peter’s side. “This is nice.”


	43. Chapter 43

Percy was now facing three new enemies: his mysterious dream demon, Agent Coulson, and finally having a healthy relationship with a man. 

He rolled his eyes at being so dramatic, but also his relationship with Peter  _ was _ probably also the healthiest relationship he’d ever had with another male. Gabe was obviously the worst. Grover had lied to and deceived him, even though they were the best of friends at this point. Nico and himself had had a bumpy ride that led to their current friendship. Bucky was great but originally, Percy was sort of a captive of the Avengers.  _ So, _ he thought to himself,  _ I can’t fuck this up with Peter. _

But, even though things were easy peasy lemon squeezy on the relationship front (despite Percy being constantly afraid of messing things up), Coulson was a threat and Percy’s deal with Morpheus was temporary. 

He thought of this as he woke up the next morning after Coulson’s arrival. He didn’t even know who or what was messing with him in his non-waking hours, but he had to figure it out.

That’s how he found himself IM-ing Annabeth (and Piper) at 6 in the morning.

“So you woke up with a real knife in your back and then it disintegrated?” Piper asked.

“Sounds like a trick of the Mist,” Annabeth pondered.

“Yeah, except I had to get stitches because I’m out of nectar, and Peter saw it too,” Percy groaned. 

“Someone has got it out for you, dude,” Piper lamented with him. 

“Do you have any idea who it is? The only other dreams I have are the always ominous ‘Your soul will burn in Tartarus forever.’”

“Maybe there’s a god of the underworld out to get you?” Piper suggested.

“Or a monster with a grudge,” Annabeth added.

“Either way, I’ve got to get it under control. I have other things to worry about,” Percy sighed, scratching his back where his stitches had been removed. “Even though I have worked something out with Morpheus I’m so tired all the time. I don’t even feel like training.”

“Could be all the stress,” Annabeth shrugged him off. “Also it’s super early.” 

Percy neglected to mention that it was rather normal for him now to wake up from a nightmare at four in the morning and train past dawn, so his extreme fatigue was concerning him, but he didn’t want her to know how bad his nightmares were getting. So, he let it go. 

“Alright, I’ll think about it some more,” Percy sighed. “Go back to bed,” and with that, he waved his hand through the Mist and effectively hung up on his friends.

He breathed in deeply once, twice, and a third time before throwing himself into his day with as much gusto as he could muster.

He did end up training for a while, but the sword bot kept getting the best of him, so he moved to pushups. When he finished a hundred and laid down to do crunches, he sighed and stared up at the ceiling. He meant to take a breath before doing his crunches, but he actually woke up to a loud clanging noise some time later.

“You usually sleep on the floor in public places?” Came Clint’s voice from above him.

“Huh?” Percy groaned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes to appease his increasing headache. 

“It’s eleven. How long have you been here?”   
“Dunno. Been a weird day.”

Clint tilted his head and looked at the younger boy oddly. “You seem a little off your game. Is everything alright?”   
“Peachy keen,” Percy sighed and stretched as he found his way to his feet. “Just tired. Don’t feel like training,” he breathed in deeply again with closed eyes and missed the odd look Clint quickly schooled into his usual neutral expression. Percy was feeling oddly… Neutral. Numb. Lethargic.

_ Maybe I need to go for a swim _ . 

He sort of waved off Clint and maded some excuse or another for his departure, but he couldn’t be bothered to remember his exact words. His eyes were droopy as he lowered himself into the water, sitting on the steps into the water and letting the cool liquid rejuvenate him. 

Though, while he did feel more awake, his lazy state of mind didn’t alter much. He tilted his head to stretch and did a few laps, but he wasn’t feeling his usual self.

_ Oh well, could just be one of those days. Hopefully they all leave me alone for a while. _

Sometimes when he couldn’t remember his dreams, it meant he was having some sort of Gabe-related flashback his mind didn’t want him to recall, and it sort of ruined his whole day. Maybe it was that.

Percy attributed his lack of care and enthusiasm to that, and went to go back to his room, only to run into a brightly smiling Peter on his way up.

“Hey, stranger,” the other boy smiled softly, and despite Percy’s off-ness, he couldn’t help but smile back.

“Hey Peter,” Percy’s heavy lidded eyes blinked slowly, and he lifted Peter’s hand to his lips to give his knuckles a soft kiss. “Lovely to see you.”

He wasn’t too loopy to not notice Peter’s reddening cheeks, and smiled again at the sight. 

However, he was getting slower and heavier feeling with each step.

“Something’s not right,” Peter said, in contrast to their previous exchange. “My Spidey Senses are tingling.”

“I’m feeling off, but I doubt your Spidey Senses are sensing my shitty mood,” Percy chuckled.

“I don’t know…” Peter trailed off, side-eyeing his… boyfriend? They hadn’t made it official yet, but Peter was hoping it was going there. Percy was so kind and caring and also so fearless and warrior-like. It was a crazy contradiction. Peter shook his head. He was getting off topic.

And, speaking of the topic at hand, Percy was leaning towards the wall, tilting dangerously until he stumbled. Peter (thank his superior reflexes) caught Percy by the elbow and helped him walk the rest of the way to his room, Spidey Senses making the hairs on his arms stand up and alerting him that something was very wrong. 

“Percy, what’s going on?” he asked as he gently dumped Percy onto his bed, then chuckled as his silly Percy tangled their limbs up and pulled Peter down with him.

“I don’t feel so good,” he mumbled, oddly serious in contrast with his actions.

“Should I call someone?”

“I have alerted Mister Stark to Mister Jackson’s state. He-” JARVIS’ voice was cut off by an audio call that Tony apparently started.

“Parker, is he drugged?” Came Tony’s voice from the speaker. “Drunk? Maybe?” He sounded less certain about that suggestion, but one never knew.

“I think he might be drugged,” Peter called, thinking now that that might be the explanation that made the most sense.

“When could that have happened? And who? When did he start acting different?”

“He was only this bad since I saw him this morning, but he has been acting more tired and agitated these last few days, hasn’t he?” Peter asked.

“I’ll get on it. You watch him for now,” and the audio cut off.

Percy was asleep.

Peter sighed and laid down next to him, staring up at the ceiling. This was an unexpected turn of events.


	44. Chapter 44

Percy woke up with a spider bite. 

Not a cool one, like Peter’s. Just a plain old tiny but swollen hole in his leg. Gross.

“If you knew Annabeth, you would also be arachnophobic,” Percy groaned. Peter had arrived not long after Percy woke up, around ten in the morning. Percy was surprised he had slept peacefully for so long. 

“It could be worse. It could have been radioactive,” Peter winked and successfully made Percy giggle softly. 

“Yeah, but you got cool superpowers. I got a huge bruise,” Percy moaned woefully, poking at the sore spot on his thigh. The same exposed thigh that Peter was all-too-noticeably blushing at, not having expected Percy to still be in bed, he also hadn’t expected Percy to be shirtless and only in a tight-fitting pair of boxers. 

_ Keep your eyes up, Parker, _ Peter chastised himself. The two of them had been in so many dangerous situations, they hadn’t had time to go much further than making out and slight over-the-clothes touching. And honestly, Peter was okay with that. Moving slowly was kind of nice.

“I wonder if it’ll still be sore later. I need to replenish my nectar and ambrosia,” the other boy pondered. 

“It might be, but working out and getting the blood flowing might help disperse the venom,” Peter shrugged like spider venom was a totally normal thing to have in one’s blood, but it grossed Percy out. 

“I guess that’s not a bad idea, I’m just so tired. Like body tired, you know?”

“Fatigued?”

“Yeah, sure,” Percy frowned and stretched his sore muscles, knowingly flexing his biceps as he did so. “Want to train with me?”

“Sure, but you don’t seem like you’re at 100%, maybe we should take it easy today,” Peter suggested.

“Maybe you’re right,” Percy shrugged but agreed, although when they arrived, Clint was standing with his back facing them next to a man clad in a red suit with two katanas strapped to his back.

“Mister Pool,” Peter whispered in awe

“Baby Parker! Good to see you in this facet of the multiverse,” the man turned around and walked over to slap Peter rather harshly on the shoulder. But, Percy thought, Peter was super strong, he would be fine.

“Mister Deadpool, sir. This is Percy,” Peter gestured to his sort-of-boyfriend with a shy smile.

“He’s our local demigod, the one you’re here to train with,” Cline explained, though he squinted a little and eyed Percy up and down. “Although I’m thinking this is a bad day to train with an immortal like Deadpool. You’re looking a little pale Katara, what’s up?” Clint didn’t want to sic Deadpool on the little demigod if he had some kind of godly illness.

“Um yeah we think there’s some kind of toxin in his system, maybe he was drugged?” Peter’s voice rose at the end in question. “He’s going for blood work after we work out.”

“Awe, it would be no fun fighting you little dude if you’re weakened,though I’ve fought weaker people for lesser reasons,” Deadpool pondered through his mask.

“Whoa, no I’m not going to turn down fighting an actual immortal.” Percy put his foot down. Or as much as he could as he was hit with a dizzy spell and leaned a little too heavily onto Peter.

“You’re right,” Deadpool said sort of into thin air. “He does look a little rough around the edges. Also it’s less that I’m immortal and more that I’m unkillable. Get it right.”

“Alright, but I am super excited. Just one match?” Percy had righted himself again, though Peter was  _ very _ wary of how long he would last on his feet against a trained killer. Though, technically, Percy was also a trained killer.

Food for thought.

“Alright, you’ve convinced me. One fight, but I’ll go easy on you.” Percy had a feeling Deadpool was winking at him. Odd. 

“Weapons?”   
“I have a feeling with your condition you’ll both lose limbs. No weapons,” Clint inserted right before Percy groaned.

“Come on, I’m trash at hand to hand.”

“Then the practice will be good,” Natasha was standing behind him.

“Fine,” Percy said, but as he prepared himself and got into a fighting stance, he felt himself losing his balance.

“I think you should call the Doc,” Deadpool was the only one looking at Percy from the front. “The young prince is pale as a sheet. You might want to look into that,” but his voice started fading in Percy’s ears as Peter rushed forward to catch him.

Percy’s world turned sideways and everything blurred in black and white.

“Awe shit, this is bad, isn’t it?” He winced as Peter rushed him away (presumably towards medical).

“We’ll have our match late little dude!” He heard Deadpool call from far away and he laughed. What a weird dude. 

Voices faded in and out and he felt a pinprick in his arm.

“How long has-”

“-few days… Getting worse.”

“Blood looks alright-”

“Just wait.”

“Poison?”

“We need to call-”

And after that, everything went dark for Percy.

Peter worried his bottom lip as Percy’s body finally went limp on the table. This was so bad. He would have to make some calls, but he needed Mister Stark’s resources. It would be a long night.


	45. Chapter 45

“Do you think this new dream threat has to do with the poison?” That was definitely a male voice, Percy discerned with closed eyes. Maybe Doctor Banner.

“It wouldn’t surprise me. We just need to analyze the commonalities between what we know about the dreams and what we know about the poison. It’s not a poison you know of, so it’s likely godly. And Percy would tell me about the messages in his dreams. ‘Your soul will burn in Tartarus for eternity.’ That has to be a clue. What god would want Percy’s soul stuck in Tartarus?” That was definitely Annabeth’s analytical voice.

“That doesn’t narrow it down a lot. While most of the Olympians are huge fans of Percy’s, there are a  _ lot _ of gods who would want to take him down,” ah, so Annabeth had invited Reyna, her next best analytical mind. “We don’t even know if it’s Roman or Greek.”

“So we don’t have a lot to go on,” Bruce sighed deeply, a sign he was becoming stressed.

“I assume it’s one of the gods who reside in Tartarus,” Percy’s voice was gritty, like he hadn’t spoken in a while and had slept with his mouth open. 

“Why do you say that?” Annabeth’s voice was closer this time, and when he opened his eyes she smiled at him. “Good morning Seaweed Brain. Always getting into trouble, aren’t you?”

“I say that because I always got this  _ feeling _ when I heard that voice that they wanted to personally torture me and my soul. Not just a generic, you know, harpy or empousa saying they want me to go down. It always felt personal.” When he finally sat up, he looked around his room. His three watchers were all in plainclothes, but Peter was asleep in a folding chair near the window in his Spiderman suit. He must have come in after patrol. 

“What did I miss?” Percy yawned and stretched, feeling a pull in his arm. He looked down to see an IV in his elbow. 

“We have you on fluids, might keep the poison in you diluted enough for you to function,” Doctor Banner mumbled. 

“Oh, so I’m screwed?” Percy asked.

“At least until we figure out who poisoned you, how they did it, and how we fix it,” Reyna supplied.

“Well the only time I’ve come in contact with a god recently was when I got stabbed in the back in my dream,” Percy thought aloud. “So that could be the source of the poison.”

“But the dagger disintegrated into thin air when you held it,” Peter walked over from his napping place. “So how do we tell what it is?”

“Well we do know one godly doctor. Maybe he owed you a favor?” Annabeth grimaced at the thought of asking a god for help.

“Or I could promise to owe him a favor?” Percy groaned at the thought of owing Apollo a favor.

“That’s bad, Percy. Don’t do that,” Annabeth warned. Though, it may be their only choice.

“Alright, let’s all pray to Lord Apollo and see if he shows up-”

Percy was caught off guard and interrupted by a beam of light.

“You called, young padawan?” Standing in front of them was a young-looking Apollo sporting blue scrubs and with his wavy blond hair tucked behind his ears. “Doctor Apollo is here.”


End file.
